TRAINING IN PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

申请人摘要：这是一份关于精神神经免疫学和药物滥用培训经费竞争性续期的申请。该计划的核心原则是，在了解滥用物质与神经和免疫系统之间的相互作用以及这些相互作用在艾滋病毒发病机制中的作用方面取得进展，需要在这个高度跨学科的领域培养年轻、聪明的科学家（博士生和博士后）。培训强调掌握跨学科的知识基础和研究方法，这对这一新兴的调查领域至关重要。了解药物滥用对大脑免疫轴的影响将是培训的目标。为了实现这一目标，教育结构包括心理神经免疫学和药物滥用的正式博士前课程，心理神经免疫学的研究生副修课程，神经免疫相互作用的正式课程，积极的研讨会和会议安排以及与相关学科教师的研究联系。主要培训教员包括在神经内分泌学、神经科学、药物化学、传染病、心理学和免疫学领域拥有医学博士和/或博士学位的科学家，他们熟悉广泛的研究方法。教师将能够培养个人在这个跨学科领域，从生理，病理生物学和医学的角度。除了获得知识和分析技能外，培训计划将强调以实验室为基础的精神神经免疫学和药物滥用的研究，由一名初级和一名二级培训师赞助，他们代表了精神神经免疫学和药物滥用领域的互补科学学科。由于其组织、课程、教程和跨学科的研究环境，该培训计划将培养具有在精神神经免疫学和药物滥用领域继续积极研究事业所需的知识和直接经验的科学家。到目前为止，在过去的三年中，已有五名博士预科生被录取，第一个学生将在九个月内毕业。过去培训的成功和大量求职者表明需要增加职位。我们要求在接下来的五年里，在这个资助中有九个博士预科职位，并在之前的资助基础上增加四个。招收博士后16人。6人已完成培训，并在学术和研究机构任职。我们申请10个博士后职位，这将保持目前的职位数量。因此，该计划成功地培养了具有知识和经验的生物医学科学家，使他们能够继续研究精神神经免疫学和药物滥用。

APPLICANT'S ABSTRACT: This is an application for competitive renewal of a training grant in Psychoneuroimmunology and Substance Abuse. The central principle underlying the proposed program is that progress toward understanding the interactions between substances of abuse and the nervous and immune systems, and the role of these interactions in the pathogenesis of HIV, requires the training of young, bright scientists (pre- and post- doctoral students) in this highly interdisciplinary field. The training emphasizes mastery of the interdisciplinary knowledge base and research methodologies which are essential to this emerging field of investigation. Understanding the impact of drug abuse on the brain immune axis will be the goal of the training. To accomplish this, the educational structure includes a formal pre-doctoral curriculum in Psychoneuroimmunology and Substance Abuse, a declared graduate school minor in Psychoneuroimmunology, a formal course in Neuro-immune Interactions, an active seminar and conference schedule and research linkages with faculty across the relevant disciplines. The primary training faculty includes scientists with M.D. and/or Ph.D. degrees in neuroendocrinology, neuroscience, medicinal chemistry, infectious diseases, psychology and immunology who are conversant with a wide array of research methodologies. The faculty will be able to train individuals in this interdisciplinary field, from physiological, pathobiological and medical perspectives. In addition to the acquisition of knowledge and analytical skills, the training program will emphasize research in laboratory-based Psychoneuroimmunology and Substance Abuse, sponsored by one primary and one secondary trainer who represent complementary scientific disciplines central to the field of Psychoneuroimmunology and Substance Abuse. As a result of its organization, curriculum, tutorials, and interdisciplinary research environment, this training program will develop scientists who have both the knowledge and direct experience necessary to continue active research careers in the field of Psychoneuroimmunology and Substance Abuse. To date, five pre-doctoral students have been admitted to the training program over the past three years and the first student will graduate in nine months. The success of past training and a significant applicant pool of candidates points to the need for additional positions. We request in this grant nine pre-doctoral positions, and increase of four over the previous grant, for the next five years. Sixteen post-doctoral trainees have been admitted to the program. Six have completed training, and hold positions with academic and research institutions. We request ten post-doctoral positions, which would maintain the current number of positions. Thus, the program is successfully developing biomedical scientists with the knowledge and experience which enables them to continue research on Psychoneuroimmunoloy and Substance Abuse.