Interdisciplinary Training in Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration

我们的目标是培养一代从事运动障碍基础、转化或临床研究的研究人员。像帕金森氏症、肌张力障碍和共济失调这样的运动障碍剥夺了我们对环境采取行动的能力。每种疾病都会导致不想做的动作，让想做的动作更难做，还会影响我们思考和处理情绪的方式。要想有效，运动障碍的研究必须跨学科，并加强基础科学发现的转化，以帮助人类更有效地运动。这个T32项目通过汇集一群杰出的导师和博士预科学员来直面这个问题，在遗传学和分子生物学、转化神经科学和生理学、认知和运动科学等学科中促进运动障碍的跨学科培训。为了实现这一目标，我们设计了我们的培训计划如下。首先，从具有不同背景的优秀博士生中选出六名学员，并从六个参与的研究生项目之一中录取，获得长达两年的支持。其次，我们建立了内部机制，学员可以通过这些机制进行互动，包括：a)每月与项目主管和生物统计学家举行T32会议，学员可以在会上介绍和讨论他们的研究；b)使用几个可用的大型“运动障碍”数据库之一，开发一个联合研究项目，作为必修的运动障碍课程的一部分；c) T32培训生和UF运动障碍中心神经病学研究员之间的年度粉笔谈话研讨会。第三，受训者的博士委员会包括一名生物统计学家和教师导师，他们至少代表培训计划3个主题中的2个。第四，受训者需要参加必要的临床-实验室轮转课程，在那里他们跟随临床医生，观看DBS手术，并在他们核心专业领域之外的临床和基础科学实验室轮转。为了提高严谨性，我们将生物统计学家纳入了我们的计划，并进行了具体的培训活动。其他核心要求包括制定个人职业发展计划、t32特定课程、出版物和在专业和科学会议上的发言（包括NINDS讲习班）、职业发展和联网机会。运动障碍和神经恢复（mddr）培训项目利用了Fixel研究所现有的临床和研究优势，运动障碍中心和六个附属卓越中心（帕金森病，妥瑞氏症，肌张力障碍，路易体病，PSP，亨廷顿病），优秀的动物研究设施，世界一流的神经成像和强大的跨学科环境。总的来说，培训项目提供的经验提供了丰富的基础-从研究概念和设计，口头和书面交流，以及对运动障碍病因和治疗研究进展至关重要的指导。

Our broad goal is to train a generation of investigators with programs of basic, translational or clinical research in movement disorders. Movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, and ataxia strip away the ability to act on our environment. Each disease causes unwanted movements, makes desired movements more difficult to perform, and also affects how we think and process our emotions. To be effective, research into movement disorders must cross disciplines, and enhance the translation of basic science discoveries to help humans move more effectively. This T32 program confronts this problem head on by bringing together an outstanding group of mentors and predoctoral trainees to foster interdisciplinary training in movement disorders across the disciplines of genetics and molecular biology, translational neuroscience and physiology, and cognitive and movement science. To achieve this goal, we have designed our training program as follows. First, six trainees are selected from a pool of outstanding predoctoral students with diverse backgrounds and are admitted from one of six participating graduate programs for up to two-years of support. Second, we have created built in mechanisms via which trainees interact including: a) monthly T32 meetings with the program directors and a biostatistician where trainees present and discuss their research; b) development of a joint research project as part of a required Movement Disorders course using one of several available large scale ‘movement disorder” databases; c) annual chalk-talk symposium between the T32 Trainees and Neurology Fellows from the UF Center for Movement Disorders. Third, the trainee's doctoral committee includes a biostatistician and faculty mentors who represent at least 2 of the 3 themes of the training program. Fourth, trainees take a required clinical-lab rotation course where they shadow clinicians, view DBS surgery, and rotate through clinical and basic science laboratories outside their core area of expertise. To enhance rigor, we have incorporated a biostatistician into our program along with specific training activities. Other core requirements include development of an individual career development plan, T32-specific courses, publications and presentations at professional and scientific conferences (including the NINDS workshop), and career development and networking opportunities. The Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration (MDNR) training program capitalizes on existing clinical and research strengths of faculty of the Fixel Institute and the Center for Movement Disorders and six affiliated centers of excellence (Parkinson Disease, Tourette, dystonia, Lewy Body Disease, PSP, Huntington’s Disease), outstanding animal research facilities, world class neuroimaging, and a strong interdisciplinary environment. Taken together, the experiences provided by the training program provide a rich foundation – ranging from research conceptualization and design, oral and written communication, and mentorship that is fundamental to the advancement of research in the etiology and treatment of movement disorders.