Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing program at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, trains highly qualified auditory neuroscientists who are able to take up academic and research positions where they will conduct independent research in the hearing sciences. Moreover, trainees are exposed to the considerable strength and emphasis in the UMD research group on questions that relate to comparative and evolutionary issues in hearing. The research group at UMD uses a wide range of animal models, from insects to humans, and modern research methodologies from molecular genetics to brain imaging, to understand the structure and function of the auditory system. Thus, the goal of the training program is to train predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows so that they are auditory neuroscientists who are able to appreciate, and use, a wide range of models that will enable them to ask the most fundamental questions about the hearing sciences. The training program includes 10 University of Maryland tenured and tenure-track investigators from five departments. The program collaborates closely with adjunct UMD faculty from the NIDCD of NIH and several other institutions. The UMD investigators are in five departments, although most of these individuals have their laboratories in one building. There is considerable interaction between laboratories in the program, and trainees, as well as faculty, are encouraged to move between laboratories to use different facilities and, more importantly, to learn and collaborate across labs. Predoctoral trainees are generally individuals who have completed most of their course work and have been admitted to doctoral candidacy. Postdoctoral trainees are selected on the basis of their research interests and how much they would gain from being part of the training program, and whether they would be interested in potentially working across laboratories at UMD or to serve as a bridge between UMD and NIDCD laboratories. Two postdoctoral trainees each year will have obtained a Ph.D. degree, while a third will be an MD who is entering into the Otolaryngology residency program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. All trainees are required to participate in the training program seminars, journal clubs, course on hearing, and course on Ethics in Scientific Research. Predoctoral trainees are expected to have a broad grounding in fundamental cell, molecular, computational, and systems neuroscience.