Training Program in NeuroHIV (TPNH)

项目总结/文摘

Project Summary/Abstract This is a new application for an Institutional Training Grant in the basic and clinical aspects of Neurological Disorders caused by HIV, better known as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The Training Program in NeuroHIV (TPNH) is requesting support for 4 advanced predoctoral students who will be trained in research on how HIV causes neural injury by faculty actively participating in the Neuroscience and Immunology programs at Georgetown University. The purpose of this training program is to prepare scientists to investigate molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegenerative processes as well as the immunological responses triggered by HIV. Our goal is to train researchers on the basic science aspect of developing neurotherapeutics and/or treatment strategies to reduce the neuronal and glial impairments that result from HIV infection of the brain. An experienced and well-funded group of 22 faculty members with a wide range of research interests and expertise in CNS function, neurodegeneration, virology and immunology will participate in the Ph.D. training program. Most students will enter graduate school through the Georgetown University Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN). In the first year they will take course work and rotate through the laboratories of potential mentors. In the second year, those interested in the TPNH will take specifically relevant courses dealing with neurodegenerative disorders, immunology, and immunopathogenesis of HIV infection, as well as extended integrative reasoning and statistical literacy training, and professional development training (i.e., grant writing and presentation skills). In the second year of graduate school, students will formally apply to the TPNH with the outline of a thesis research proposal approved by a potential mentor or co-mentors from the IPN/Immunology Training Faculty. Thesis research will start after the completion of the Ph.D. program’s qualifying exam. In their third and fourth years, trainees will participate in training sessions with clinician-scientists to provide the necessary experience in basic and clinical science that is key to the understanding of HAND from bench to therapeutics. Trainees will report results from their research in yearly student seminars, presentations at national meetings, and as publications in peer-reviewed journals. With respect to public health, this program will create a core of neuroscientists trained for research and/or management of research programs, through which new and more effective treatments for HAND and related neuro-immuno-degenerative disorders will be developed.