TRAINING PROGRAM IN MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR NEUROBIOLOGY

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DESCRIPTION: (Applicant's abstract) This application is for renewal of the UCLA Training Program in Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology (MCN), first awarded in 1995. This submission updates the MCN program by including faculty from UCLA's new Department of Human Genetics and by describing the substantial new investment UCLA has made in laboratories, equipment, and personnel. The application includes a request for six predoctoral fellowships for each year of the grant. The MCN program provides training in molecular biology, cellular biology, and genetics for second through fourth year predoctoral neuroscience students. Such training addresses the need to develop a cadre of researchers who can help develop the next generation of therapies and prophylaxes for diseases of the brain and central nervous system. The MCN program has demonstrated the feasibility of this training goal and has had a remarkable impact on neuroscience at UCLA. The number and quality of student applicants to the program has risen constantly over the last years. Since the original submission, 17 new faculty members are involved in cellular and molecular neuroscience and the MCN program plays a critical role in helping junior faculty establish their own research programs and build relationships with senior faculty. MCN is responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of faculty collaborations across disciplinary lines and in the overall level of funded research support for these efforts. MCN trainees will work with these faculty members in newly constructed state-of-the art laboratory facilities. The UCLA Brain Research Institute administers the MCN program as well as the Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program for Neuroscience (IDP) where MCN trainees seek PhDs. The IDP is a well-established program that draws the highest quality students among all the UCLA life science programs. Faculty from 18 academic departments participate in the IDP and students: take a common core curriculum that supports the goals of the MCN. The MCN program will continue to be directed by Dr. Allan Tobin, who holds the Eleanor Leslie Chair in Neuroscience and maintains appointments in the Neurology Department within the School of Medicine and in the Physiological Science Department in the College of Letters and Science. Numerous MCN faculty have joint appointments, underscoring the "bench to beside" philosophy of the program.