Neurobiology Training Program

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Abstract This application seeks support for early stage training of doctoral students in the neurosciences at Duke University. The goal of this comprehensive, broad-based, interdisciplinary Neurobiology Training Program (NBTP) is to train top-level neurobiologists for research-oriented positions in academia, industry, and related arenas. The application seeks funding for 6 predoctoral trainees each year, typically 3 in their first year and 3 in their second year. Richard Mooney, PhD directs the program in concert with the NBTP Steering Committee comprising select faculty and students. Preceptors are drawn from many departments across the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences and represent a broad diversity of fields including molecular, cellular, circuits, systems, computational, translational and cognitive neuroscience. Preceptors include scientists with long and distinguished records of achievement as well as recently recruited, talented young faculty. A large applicant pool - approaching close to 200 candidates per year - permits recruitment of a talented, diverse class of ~7 new students each fall. Close to half of the matriculants will be supported in their first two years by the Duke Graduate School, which enables the program to pull from international as well as domestic pools. Students undergo extensive training including demanding coursework addressing the depth and breadth of fundamental and translational neuroscience, including experimental design, technical implementation, data analysis, and interpretation. Required course work emphasizes molecular and cellular neuroscience; circuits and systems neuroscience; the neurobiology of disease; quantitative, statistical and computational neuroscience methods; scientific writing; written and oral presentation; teaching and career development. Their thesis committees and the Program Steering Committee carefully monitor students' progress throughout the entire period of graduate training. Students in our program are expected to obtain their doctoral degree within 5 to 6 years and to publish original research articles stemming from their doctoral studies. Upon completion of postdoctoral fellowships and clinical training (where applicable), we expect that our graduates will secure tenure-track faculty positions in research institutions, obtain neuroscience-related jobs in industry, use their neuroscience training to practice medicine, and teach and train the next generation of neuroscientists at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The Training Program makes extensive efforts to recruit and retain students from underrepresented groups. The goal of the program is to train a new and diverse generation of scientists equipped with the knowledge, imagination and insight needed to cross disciplinary boundaries in search of a new and deeper understanding of the basis of nervous system function in health and disease.