Neuroscience Training Program

描述(由申请人提供)：此续订申请请求支持爱荷华大学神经科学一年级和二年级(论文前)学生的综合、基础、多学科博士前培训。该申请建立在二十多年来成功培养博士生的基础上，建立在最近录取和培养越来越优秀的学生的成功基础上，建立在稳定、成熟的领导基础上，包括一位经验丰富的项目主任。该计划规模不大，但非常出色，利用了科学家与基础和临床科室的初级预约进行密切互动的悠久传统，以及在基础研究和临床研究之间的相互作用中，他们可以正式和通过榜样指导学生。 培训教员是38名外部资助的神经科学家，他们的研究兴趣横跨神经科学的范围，从离子通道的生物物理和药理学特性，到突触蛋白质和信号分子，再到语言、记忆和决策等更高功能的神经机制。导师有丰富的经验，并成功地培养了学生。 学生参加一个完善的、成熟的课程，提供广泛和基础的神经科学培训，在分析水平(从基因到分子，从细胞到集成功能系统)和方法的多样性(从离子通道和膜片钳微电极到转基因和基因敲除小鼠模型，从人类损伤缺陷和功能神经成像到翻译研究)方面跨越该领域的广泛领域，特别关注疾病和障碍的神经科学(包括NIH支持的疾病神经生物学课程)，以及统计和实验设计方面的培训。 该计划包括三次实验室轮换，定期的方案活动(实验室会议、研讨会、期刊俱乐部、务虚会)，以及负责任的研究行为方面的全面培训。这项计划的“增值”功能尤其引人注目--美国国立卫生研究院培训补助金加强了该计划的方方面面，并在当前的资助期间直接促成了前所未有的成功，包括申请者数量和质量的增加，来自不同背景(包括种族/民族、残疾人、弱势群体)的学生的入学和留住，获得学位的时间缩短，学生的出版记录，以及将毕业生安排在与神经科学相关的重要学术职位上。为了扩展这些成就，续签申请要求每年提供六个名额来支持一年级和二年级的学生。 相关性：爱荷华州神经科学培训计划强调高度跨学科的方向，并与共同发起的NIH博士前神经科学任务紧密联系在一起，以促进神经系统疾病的诊断、治疗和预防工作，以及实现这一目标的基础科学。该计划仍然致力于培训一支多样化和高度专业的神经科学家队伍，然后他们将担任与国家生物医学和行为研究议程相关的领导角色。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This renewal application requests support for integrated, broad-based, fundamental, multidisciplinary predoctoral training of first- and second-year (pre-thesis) students in neuroscience at the University of Iowa. The application builds on more than two decades of success in training Ph.D. students, on recent successes in matriculating and training increasingly top-caliber students, and on stable, mature leadership, including a highly experienced Program Director. The Program, which is small but stellar, draws on a long tradition of close interactions among scientists with primary appointments in basic and clinical departments, and their availability to mentor students, formally and by example, in the interplay between basic and clinical research. The training faculty members are 38 extramurally-funded neuroscientists with research interests that span the gamut of neuroscience, from biophysical and pharmacological properties of ion channels, to synaptic proteins and signaling molecules, to neural mechanisms of higher functions such as language, memory, and decision-making. The preceptors have extensive experience and success training students. Students participate in a well-developed, mature curriculum that offers broad and fundamental training in neuroscience, spanning the breadth of the field in terms of levels of analysis (from genes to molecules to cells to integrated functional systems) and diversity of approaches (from ion channels and patch clamp microelectrodes to transgenic and gene-knockout mouse models to human lesion-deficit and functional neuroimaging to translational research), with a special focus on the neuroscience of disease and disorders (including an NIH-supported Neurobiology of Disease course), along with training in statistics and experimental design. The program incorporates three laboratory rotations, regular programmatic activities (laboratory meetings, seminars, journal clubs, retreats), and comprehensive training in responsible conduct of research. The "value-added" feature of this Program is especially compelling - NIH training grant dollars enhance every aspect of the Program, and have contributed directly to unprecedented success during the current funding period, including increases in the quantity and quality of applicants, matriculation and retention of students from diverse backgrounds (including racial/ethnic, disabled, disadvantaged), decreased time-to-degree, publication records of students, and placement of graduates in prominent neuroscience-related academic positions. To extend these accomplishments, this renewal request asks for six slots per year to support first- and second-year students. RELEVANCE: The Iowa Neuroscience Training Program emphasizes a highly interdisciplinary orientation, and is tightly tied to the jointly sponsored NIH predoctoral neuroscience mission to foster work toward the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of nervous system disorders, and the basic sciences fundamental to this purpose. The Program remains committed to training a diverse and highly expert workforce of neuroscientists, who will then assume leadership roles related to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research agenda.