Training At The Interface of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Genetics

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposed training program is to develop basic behavioral scientists with rigorous broadbased training one of two biomedical sciences - neuroscience and genetics. With support from the Administration, we will create a new Ph.D. degree program at Washington University on the "Interface of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Genetics" (IPNG). The training program leadership and steering committee will include equal participation from faculty in psychology, neuroscience, and genetics. Programmatic experiences (e.g., coursework, lab rotations, colloquia, etc.) will provide trainees with systematic exposure to the behavioral perspectives from psychology integrated with biomedical perspectives from systems and computational neuroscience along with behavioral, molecular, and statistical genetics. The goal is to train young scientists who are able to flexibly apply concepts and methods from basic biomedical sciences to the study of behavioral phenomenon, such as memory, attention and other cognitive functions, behavioral disorders such as schizophrenia, alcoholism, problems with emotion regulation, and basic social phenomena such as personality, attitudes, and social cognition. This training program will provide benefits to trainees who are interested in research crossing traditional academic boundaries between psychology and two of the most important and exciting biomedical sciences - neuroscience and genetics. Although we anticipate that most trainees will specialize in neuroscience or genetics, according to their particular interests, programmatic experiences will make it possible for trainees who have interests that span these three disciplines to take coursework and become involved with mentors that integrate aspects of psychology, neuroscience, and genetics. Educational opportunities of this kind are rare, and the unique nature of this training program will make our graduates very attractive candidates for faculty positions in biobehavioral sciences at other universities. There will also be benefits to the fields of neuroscience and genetics research, in which new lines of behavioral investigation will be opened. Finally, through the process of recruiting and training students in research at the interface of behavioral and biomedical sciences, the core faculty members of the training program will benefit because the program will foster collaborative research endeavors among the very diverse set of faculty participating in the training program.