Sensory Mechanisms and Disorders

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Project Summary This training program for predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows provides an interdisciplinary education and research experience in hearing, balance and chemical senses (HBCS). Predoctoral training is based in one of the 15 academic departments and degree-granting graduate programs with which the 21 training faculty are associated. Doctoral thesis research and postdoctoral research training reside primarily within the laboratories of the mentors. Our affiliated faculty provide outstanding training in each of their corresponding disciplines: bioengineering, cellular and molecular biology, genetics, neurophysiology and optogenetics, developmental biology, and biopsychology of sensory processing. The HBCS program integrates investigators in auditory, vestibular, and chemosensory research with trainees from across these disciplines and thereby fosters innovative training opportunities into mechanisms and disorders of hearing, balance, and taste and olfaction. Cross-disciplinary integration is made possible by the training program through: a) introductory and advanced courses in sensory systems; b) seminars relevant to hearing, balance and chemical senses from experts within and outside the University of Michigan; c) student and faculty seminars, journal clubs and research forums; d) exposure to clinical research issues in Otolaryngology and clinical/translational resources available at the University of Michigan Medical School, and e) training in research standards and ethics. In addition, mentee projects usually include a co-mentor from a different laboratory within or across departments to provide complementary expertise. There is a strong emphasis on equity and diversity, which is fostered by bimonthly meetings for women and minority students. Support for 4 predoctoral and 3 postdoctoral trainees is requested. Predoctoral trainees will be selected from the most highly qualified graduate students in the training faculty's affiliated departments and programs. Interest and motivation for research in sensory systems will be an important selection criterion. Postdoctoral trainees (Ph.D., M.D., or D.D.S.) will be selected from applicants with a strong commitment to sensory biology and promising research backgrounds.