Neuroscience Training Program at UC Berkeley

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Project Summary The T32 Neuroscience Training Program (NTP) at Berkeley seeks to provide broad-based neuroscience PhD training, with an emphasis on advanced research methods and quantitative approaches. Our 60 training faculty are from 12 departments and span molecular to cognitive neuroscience, new methods development, and disease-related research. The NTP supports Year 1-2 students from the Neuroscience PhD Program (the largest pool of neuroscience-focused students at Berkeley) plus a smaller number from 3 additional PhD programs who train in our faculty laboratories. Our program provides training across a wide range of neuroscience from molecules to mind. We combine flexible coursework, rigorous research training, quantitative skills, and a major focus on advanced research methods. We have a multi-disciplinary approach to neuroscience that leverages Berkeley’s deep expertise in molecular and cell biology, physical and computational sciences, engineering and psychology. We require coursework in molecular-cellular, circuit-systems, and cognitive neuroscience, plus optional computational neuroscience. We require laboratory rotations and thesis research, an Experimental Boot Camp, and a new Quantitative Boot Camp that teaches programming, data analysis and statistics. Our core competency classes introduce major experimental methods and train students in rigor and reproducibility, experimental design, scientific and grant writing, scientific talk skills, and responsible conduct of research. Seminar series, multi-lab research meetings and journal clubs, and an annual campus-wide retreat provide rich exposure to neuroscience research. A qualifying exam includes an NIH grant-style proposal for thesis research, oral defense of the proposal, and examination on a broad set of foundational questions in neuroscience. Students complete an individual development plan (IDP) at the end of Year 2. A multi-tiered advising system provides extensive scientific and career advising. We strive to provide an inclusive, supportive research climate. We conduct yearly program evaluations to guide improvements. For this renewal, we add important updates—launching our Quantitative Boot Camp, adding more training in experiment design and scientific rigor, reorganizing our advising structure to provide more active student advising and support, adding required mentor training for NTP faculty, and expanding career development resources. We believe this training program will produce scientists who will make important discoveries with cutting-edge technology, and translate these discoveries into solutions for human neurological disease. This training program is followed not just by T32 students, but by all Neuroscience PhD program students, and its activities are open to any neuroscience-oriented student at Berkeley. This gives the NTP critical mass and broad impact, reaching a large number of students and synergizing neuroscience training for students across many PhD programs.