Interdisciplinary Training in Auditory Neuroscience

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT There is a national need to advance the understanding of hearing in both healthy patients and those with various causes of hearing loss, which contribute to reduced quality of life and are correlated with much poorer health outcomes. The objective of this continuing training program is to train the next generation of faculty who will populate colleges of science, engineering, and health sciences, as well as to send graduates into industry prepared to work toward creative solutions for treating hearing loss. Specifically, in order to advance auditory neuroscience training, this graduate training program leverages faculty expertise in both basic hearing science and technology development, from three Purdue University colleges (Science, Engineering, and Health & Human Sciences) and 8 doctoral admissions programs. Two types of investigators are included: 10 hearing scientists with focused research programs related to auditory-system neuroscience, and 12 technology innovators trained in other disciplines (e.g., biomedical and electrical engineering, computer science). Collectively and collaboratively, the program expands knowledge about mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, and systems levels that underlie auditory information processing. This fundamental knowledge can then be applied to better understand the changes that lead to pathologies of the auditory system due to damage, disease, aging, and congenital disorders, as well as understanding how hearing evolved and influences behavior and natural selection. Technological approaches to these questions include, but are not limited to, super-resolution microscopy, biological implants for neuromodulation, high-resolution four-dimensional calcium imaging deep in the mammalian brain, optogenetics and robotics (automated patch-clamping) for brain circuit analysis, and multimodal brain imaging methods, coupled with advanced approaches in statistical and data analysis and model development. TPAN is unique in that it is specifically designed to serve students with undergraduate degrees in the disparate disciplines of life science, physical science or engineering, and merge them into a unified cohort focused on auditory neuroscience. Four fellows are selected for a 2-year term on the training grant, beginning at the start of their second year. The training curriculum includes 4 core courses (one each in neuroscience, the auditory periphery, central/behavioral auditory science, and signal processing), a required grant-writing course, a weekly Hearing Science seminar series where students and faculty present, and yearly attendance at extramural training courses and/or auditory-neuroscience conferences. Vertical and horizontal mentoring provide training and support at all levels, to enhance scientific networks, and to foster a sense of community among all hearing-science students (current and recent TPAN fellows, plus TPAN affiliates) that promotes success in the PhD and afterwards. Support is provided, in collaboration with Purdue's Institute for Integrative Neuroscience, for an individual data-management consultant for each Fellow, individually budgeted training-related expenses, diversity recruiting by both faculty and students, as well as for admininstrative support.