ADVANCED GRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAM IN THEORETICAL NEUROSCIENCE

描述（由申请人提供）： 该计划位于神经科学系理论神经科学中心，将为第三至第五年的博士前学生提供理论神经科学跨学科领域的培训。学员将接受双重培训，在学科，如物理，数学，工程和计算机科学开发的定量方法，并在生物学和神经科学开发的实验方法。最重要的是，他们将学习如何将分析技术和建模方法应用于大脑功能的研究。完成该计划后，学员将能够弥合理论和实验之间的差距，并在确定统一的主题和新的原则，将行为与潜在的突触，细胞和电路机制的方式。这将通过一个培训计划来实现，该计划将分析和计算方法的严格课程与相关神经科学实验室的工作相结合。受训人员包括主要与理论教师一起工作的学生，但将与实验同事以及在实验室工作的学生进行广泛的互动，这些学生具有双理论实验教师指导。理论神经科学中心将为拟议的计划提供协调中心。理论中心由五名全职教师和一名客座教师组成，另外一名全职教师将在未来一两年内开始工作。哥伦比亚大学神经生物学和行为学项目的教师将增加这个核心小组。理论神经科学中心以其高度互动的环境和与实验室的广泛联系，为理论神经科学的跨学科培训提供了独特的环境。该培训计划将接受来自哥伦比亚神经生物学和行为研究生课程以及细胞，分子和生物物理研究综合课程的研究生，并根据需要增加他们的知识，为他们提供神经科学定量和实验室方法的丰富教育。该培训计划旨在培养一批新的研究人员，他们擅长将强大的分析和计算方法应用于复杂的神经生物学系统。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed program, based in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience in the Department of Neuroscience, will provide training for predoctoral students in their third through fifth year in the interdisciplinary field of theoretical neuroscience. Trainees will receive dual training in the quantitative methods developed in disciplines such as physics, mathematics, engineering, and computer science and in the experimental approaches developed within biology and neuroscience. Most importantly, they will learn how to apply analytic techniques and modeling approaches to studies of brain function. After completing the program, trainees will be able to bridge the gap between theory and experiment and, lead the way in identifying unifying themes and new principles linking behavior to underlying synaptic, cellular and circuit mechanisms. This will be achieved through a training program that combines rigorous courses in analytic and computational methods with work in the relevant neuroscience laboratories. Trainees include students who work primarily with the theoretical faculty but will have extensive interactions with experimental colleagues as well as with students working in laboratories with dual theory-experimental faculty mentoring. The Center for Theoretical Neuroscience will provide the focal point for the proposed program. The Theory Center consists of a faculty of five full-time and one visiting member, with an additional full-time faculty member to start in the next year or two. Faculty members of Columbia's Program in Neurobiology and Behavior will augment this core group. The Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, with its highly interactive environment and extensive ties to experimental laboratories, provides a unique environment for crossdisciplinary training in theoretical neuroscience. The training program will accept graduate students from the graduate Program in Neurobiology and Behavior and the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies at Columbia and augment their knowledge as needed to provide them with a rich education in both quantitative and laboratory methods in neuroscience. The training program is designed to develop a new breed of researcher skilled at applying powerful analytic and computational approaches to complex neurobiological systems.