UT Austin Center for Learning & Memory Faculty Recruitment Proposal

描述（由申请人提供）：学习和记忆中心（CLM）在得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校从事学习和记忆的神经生物学研究的多学科方法。CLM促进了不同学科和分析水平之间的思想和专业知识的交流，同时保持对学习和记忆机制的具体关注。除了主任，三名优秀的高级教师和五名初级教师自2004年成立以来已被招募到CLM，其专业知识涵盖从人类功能成像，到学习的系统级分析，到突触整合和可塑性的细胞分析，到离子通道结构/功能的生物物理分析，到神经元内分子信号的调查。我们的主要目标是创造一个环境，通过跨越这些不同层次的分析教师之间有意义的合作，促进和支持科学发现。七个具体的例子已经建立在CLM教师之间的合作和CLM教师和教师在大学其他部门之间的合作的四个例子在这个建议中概述了这种互动环境的证据。 该大学已承诺资源，聘请额外的4名教师，并填补中心内目前空置和连续的实验室空间，但在大学的资金减少，可用于启动包在过去的一年里，使我们更难以吸引最优秀的教师。我们已经确定了两个研究领域没有很好地代表目前的CLM教师，这些将是我们的短期招聘工作的重点。这些是关于行为动物学习的分子生物学和系统分析。P30资金的这一要求是为了补充大学资源的启动包，并促进两个新的终身教职员工进入CLM的招聘。此外，我们正在申请资金建立一个行为核心设施，为所有CLM教师提供实施用于评估转基因啮齿动物学习和记忆表型的全方位行为测试的能力。这种支持可以成为推动CLM全面代表学习和记忆研究的现代分析水平的动力，并将对中心的生产力，国际声誉和促进大脑机制和疾病的突破性发现的能力产生直接影响，这些突破性发现往往来自这些富有成效的多层次合作。 公共卫生相关性：学习和记忆背后的神经机制在很大程度上是未知的，但它们对公众和科学界具有巨大的兴趣和重要性。UT Austin的学习和记忆中心是一个研究中心，拥有代表不同学科和分析水平的教师，其研究项目专注于学习和记忆的机制。了解这些机制为了解学习和记忆障碍提供了必要的知识基础，包括脑损伤，神经退行性疾病，衰老和精神疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Center for Learning and Memory (CLM) at The University of Texas at Austin engages in a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the neurobiology of learning and memory. The CLM facilitates the exchange of ideas and expertise across different disciplines and levels of analysis, while maintaining a specific focus on the mechanisms of leaming and memory. In addition to the Director, three outstanding senior faculty and five junior faculty have been recruited into the CLM since its inception in 2004 with expertise that spans from functional imaging in humans, to systems level analysis of learning, to cellular analysis of synaptic integration and plasticity, to biophysical analysis of the structure/function of ion channels, to the investigation of the molecular signaling within neurons. The primary goal is to create an environment that fosters and supports scientific discoveries through meaningful collaborations among faculty that span these different levels of analysis. Seven specific examples of collaborations already established among CLM faculty and four examples of collaborations between CLM faculty and faculty in other departments at the University are outlined in this proposal as evidence of this interactive environment. The University has committed resources to hire an additional 4 faculty and to fill currently unoccupied and contiguous lab space within the Center, however a reduction in the University funds available for start-up packages in the past year has made it more difficult for us to attract the most outstanding faculty. We have identified two areas of research not well represented by current CLM faculty, and these would be the focus of our immediate-term recruiting efforts. These are molecular biology and systems analyses of learning in behaving animals. This request for P30 funding is to supplement University resources for start-up packages and to facilitate the hiring of two new tenure-track faculty members into CLM. In addition, we are requesting funding to create a behavioral core facility that would provide all CLM faculty with the ability to implement the full range of behavioral tests used to assess the learning and memory phenotype of genetically modified rodents. This support can be the driving force that will move the CLM toward full representation of modern levels of analysis of the study of learning and memory and will make an immediate impact on the Center's productivity, international reputation, and ability to foster the breakthrough discoveries in brain mechanisms and disease that often result from these productive, multi-level collaborations among outstanding investigators. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory are largely unknown, yet they are of enormous interest and importance to the general public and scientific community. The Center for Learning and Memory at UT Austin is a research center with faculty representing different disciplines and levels of analysis, whose research programs maintain a focus on mechanisms of learning and memory. Understanding these mechanisms provides the foundation of knowledge that is essential for understanding disorders of learning and memory, including brain injury, neurodegenerative disease, aging and psychiatric disorders.