UT Austin Center for Learning & Memory Faculty Recruitment Proposal

描述（由申请人提供）：德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的学习与记忆中心（CLM）采用多学科方法研究学习与记忆的神经生物学。CLM促进了不同学科和分析水平的思想和专业知识的交流，同时保持了对学习和记忆机制的特别关注。除了主任之外，CLM自2004年成立以来，已经招募了三名优秀的高级教师和五名初级教师，他们的专业知识涵盖了人类功能成像，系统级学习分析，突触整合和可塑性的细胞分析，离子通道结构/功能的生物物理分析，以及神经元分子信号的研究。主要目标是创造一个环境，通过跨越这些不同分析层次的教师之间有意义的合作，促进和支持科学发现。本提案概述了七个CLM教师之间已经建立的合作的具体例子，以及四个CLM教师与大学其他院系教师之间合作的例子，作为这种互动环境的证据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Center for Learning and Memory (CLM) at The University of Texas at Austin engages in a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the neurobiology of learning and memory. The CLM facilitates the exchange of ideas and expertise across different disciplines and levels of analysis, while maintaining a specific focus on the mechanisms of leaming and memory. In addition to the Director, three outstanding senior faculty and five junior faculty have been recruited into the CLM since its inception in 2004 with expertise that spans from functional imaging in humans, to systems level analysis of learning, to cellular analysis of synaptic integration and plasticity, to biophysical analysis of the structure/function of ion channels, to the investigation of the molecular signaling within neurons. The primary goal is to create an environment that fosters and supports scientific discoveries through meaningful collaborations among faculty that span these different levels of analysis. Seven specific examples of collaborations already established among CLM faculty and four examples of collaborations between CLM faculty and faculty in other departments at the University are outlined in this proposal as evidence of this interactive environment. The University has committed resources to hire an additional 4 faculty and to fill currently unoccupied and contiguous lab space within the Center, however a reduction in the University funds available for start-up packages in the past year has made it more difficult for us to attract the most outstanding faculty. We have identified two areas of research not well represented by current CLM faculty, and these would be the focus of our immediate-term recruiting efforts. These are molecular biology and systems analyses of learning in behaving animals. This request for P30 funding is to supplement University resources for start-up packages and to facilitate the hiring of two new tenure-track faculty members into CLM. In addition, we are requesting funding to create a behavioral core facility that would provide all CLM faculty with the ability to implement the full range of behavioral tests used to assess the learning and memory phenotype of genetically modified rodents. This support can be the driving force that will move the CLM toward full representation of modern levels of analysis of the study of learning and memory and will make an immediate impact on the Center's productivity, international reputation, and ability to foster the breakthrough discoveries in brain mechanisms and disease that often result from these productive, multi-level collaborations among outstanding investigators. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory are largely unknown, yet they are of enormous interest and importance to the general public and scientific community. The Center for Learning and Memory at UT Austin is a research center with faculty representing different disciplines and levels of analysis, whose research programs maintain a focus on mechanisms of learning and memory. Understanding these mechanisms provides the foundation of knowledge that is essential for understanding disorders of learning and memory, including brain injury, neurodegenerative disease, aging and psychiatric disorders.