Neurobiology and Neuropyschology of Aging

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Predoctoral and postdoctoral students will receive comprehensive training in the Neurobiology and Neuropsychology of Aging through the combined efforts of a total of 17 mentors that include neurobiologists, neuropsychologists and neuroimagers at Boston University School of Medicine (N=12) and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (N=5). Training will include research and didactics in (1) animal models of normal aging and age-related disease, (2) neuropsychology of aging and age-related neurologic disease, and (3) state-of-the art techniques in neuroimaging. Resources are founded on extensive research activity and grant support of the trainers that include several NIA funded program projects, two Alzheimer Disease Centers, and over 20 individual grants. With experience gained through active participation as one of the selected partners in the Carnegie Initiative for the Doctorate, a Roadmap grant to create one of the first Interdisciplinary Courses in Aging (Introduction to Interdisciplinary Systems Science: Dynamic Modeling), specific courses in the Foundations of Neuroimaging, and the Vesalius Program in Teaching in the Biomedical Sciences, this program provides a unique and progressive training in the neurobiology of aging. The areas of research represented among the training cadre include the neuropsychology and neurobiology (including neurogenetics) of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, normal aging and cerebrovascular disease in non-human primate models, and studies of age-related changes at the cellular, synaptic ultrastructure and neuroimaging levels. All students will have a training experience with animal models (non-human primates and rodent) and humans encompassing (1) neuropsychological (2) structural and (3) imaging studies. The program includes, among other features, in-depth classroom instruction, methods in neuroscience with an emphasis on aging, hands-on laboratory research, the Vesalius course in biomedical teaching, and a course in interdisciplinary systems science and dynamic modeling.