Training Program for the Visual Sciences

描述（由申请人提供）：我们建议继续在视觉科学的博士前学生和博士后研究员成功的培训计划。培训计划的核心是强烈耦合，并通过在UCSF神经科学研究生课程。重点将是培养学生和研究员谁将应用现代生物学方法来研究视觉科学的问题。所有学员将在导师的实验室接受全面的研究培训。此外，学员将通过正式的课程工作，研讨会，期刊俱乐部以及与UCSF医学院的临床和基础科学教师的联系，获得视觉科学和现代生物学学科的坚实基础。培训计划的所有教师都是神经科学计划的成员。大多数教职员工也与加州大学旧金山分校的其他研究生课程有联系。八名培训教师也是眼科学系的成员，其中七名在Koret Vision大楼有相邻的实验室。其中12名教师从国家眼科研究所获得主要研究资金。整个学院的研究兴趣包括或补充视觉科学的一个或多个领域。在选择研究导师并完成神经科学核心课程和3个实验室研究轮换后，将选择博士前学员。博士前学员的进展将由论文委员会和愿景培训计划进行监测。 博士后研究员将加入并主要在选定的教员的实验室进行培训。与其他培训学院的实验室，或医学院内的其他教师的合作，将受到强烈鼓励。这种合作是UCSF的一个强大传统。 UCSF特别适合这个培训计划，因为它在分子生物学，细胞生物学，分子遗传学和神经科学方面的研究和研究生培训的实力，以及视觉科学广泛研究的质量。 博士前学生和博士后研究员的成功培训的典范记录上的愿景培训补助金的导师显示了我们的计划的能力和奉献精神。在过去10年中，在视觉培训学院实验室完成培训的78名博士后研究员中，57%目前在大学，医学院和专门的生物医学研究机构（如东京理研）担任独立学术职务。另有14%的人仍在学术环境中从事研究，另有14%的人在与生物医学产品相关的公司中担任工业职位。NIH对这项培训补助金的持续支持对于我们未来继续培训科学家和学者至关重要。 公共卫生相关性：生物医学研究和NIH的目标和使命首先是寻找和发现关于生命系统的性质和行为的基本知识，然后应用这些知识来增强健康，延长寿命，减少疾病和残疾的负担。UCSF的博士前和博士后培训的目标是指导和教育未来的研究人员，他们将做出基本的创造性发现，制定创新的研究策略，并将他们的技能和知识作为最终保护和改善健康的基础。此外，该培训旨在促进科学行为中最高水平的科学诚信，公共责任和社会责任。 因为我们正在培训视觉科学的学生和研究员，我们将最终集中在人类失明的原因，诊断，预防和治疗上。鉴于该计划的教师的研究兴趣和专业知识，博士前和博士后培训也将强调视觉系统的增长和发展。 这项拟议的培训计划将在教育学生谁将成为我们未来的生物医学研究人员发挥重要作用。拥有一支训练有素的研究人员队伍是我们作为一个国家了解和治疗我们自己和世界人口的疾病和残疾的主要手段。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to continue a successful Training Program for predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in the visual sciences. The core of the training program is coupled strongly with and through the Neuroscience Graduate Program at UCSF. The emphasis will be on training students and fellows who will apply modern biological methods to research problems in the visual sciences. All trainees will receive comprehensive research training in the laboratory of their mentor. Additionally, trainees will receive a strong foundation in visual sciences and the disciplines of modern biology through formal course work, seminars, journal clubs, and contacts with the clinical and basic science faculty at the UCSF School of Medicine. All of the faculty members of the Training Program are established scientists who are members of the Neuroscience Program. Most of the faculty members also have affiliations with other graduate programs at UCSF. Eight of the training faculty are also members of the Department of Ophthalmology, and seven of these have neighboring laboratories in the Koret Vision Building. Twelve of the faculty members receive their primary research funding from the National Eye Institute. The research interests of the entire faculty encompass or complement one or more areas of the visual sciences. Predoctoral trainees will be selected after choosing a research mentor and following completion of the Neuroscience Core courses and 3-laboratory research rotations. The progress of predoctoral trainees will be monitored by a thesis committee and by the Vision Training Program. Postdoctoral fellows will join and train primarily in the laboratory of a selected faculty member. Collaboration with the laboratories of other training faculty, or other faculty within the School of Medicine, will be strongly encouraged. Such collaborations are a strong tradition at UCSF. UCSF is particularly well suited for this Training Program because of the strength of its research and graduate training in molecular biology, cell biology, molecular genetics, and neurosciences, and because of the quality of broad-based research in the visual sciences. The exemplary record of successful training of predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows by the mentors on the Vision Training Grant shows the capabilities and dedication of our program. Of the 78 postdoctoral fellows who have completed training in the labs of the Vision Training Faculty in the last 10 years, 57% are presently in independent academic positions at universities, medical schools and dedicated biomedical research institutes such as the Riken in Tokyo. Another 14% remain in research in an academic setting and another 14% have taken an industrial position in companies associated with biomedical products. Continued NIH support for this training grant will be essential for enabling us to continue training scientists and academicians for the future. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal and mission of biomedical research, and NIH, is first to search for and discover fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and then to apply that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability. The goal of predoctoral and postdoctoral training at UCSF is to guide and educate future researchers who will make fundamental creative discoveries, develop innovative research strategies, and apply their skills and knowledge as a basis for ultimately protecting and improving health. Additionally, this training is organized to promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science. Because we are training students and fellows in the visual sciences, we will be focused ultimately on the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cure of human blindness. Given the research interests and expertise of the faculty members in this program, predoctoral and postdoctoral training will also emphasize the growth and development of the visual system. This proposed training program will play an important role in educating students who will become our future biomedical researchers. Having a well-trained cadre of researchers is the principal means that we, as a nation, have for understanding and treating illnesses and disabilities of our own and the world's population.