Training Program in the Neurobiology of Cognition and Cognitive Disorders

描述(由申请人提供)：在过去的15年里，对认知神经生物学的兴趣激增，产生了对训练有素的认知神经生物学家的相应需求，此外，对受过基础科学培训、对将基础科学进展转化为患者治疗和治愈的兴趣和专业知识的学生的需求也很高。为了响应这一需求，我们建议在阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校(UAB)开发一个为期四年的认知和认知障碍神经生物学培训计划。UAB是提供这种新型培训计划的理想人选。在过去的十年中，UAB在神经科学研究和培训方面做出了重大的财政、基础设施和学术承诺，包括招聘新的神经科学杰出教席和教职员工，并建立了McKnight脑研究所，以及新的UAB综合神经科学、医学胶质生物学、神经退变和实验治疗以及功能神经成像中心。拟议的培训计划将以神经生物学系为行政基础，包括来自UAB医学院和视光学院的6个基础科学和6个临床系的42名培训教师。该计划的目标是培养下一代神经生物学研究的领导者和思想家，他们在分子、细胞和认知神经科学方面具有坚实的基础，接触到临床研究的当前概念，重视将基础研究转化为认知障碍治疗的进展的重要性，并准备使用多学科和创新的研究方法来了解认知和认知障碍。为了实现这一目标，我们建议聚集一群在认知和认知障碍方面工作的杰出UAB教员，并允许他们教授一门专门的课程，包括分子、细胞、发育、整合、医学和认知神经科学以及神经系统疾病方面的知识。除了这项独特的课程外，培训计划的具体“增值”部分是以患者为中心的研究、双重基础科学/临床科学指导和独特的课外活动中的特殊翻译/临床培训经验。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): An explosion of interest in cognitive neurobiology over the last 15 years has produced a corresponding demand for highly trained cognitive neurobiologists, and in addition a high demand for students trained in basic science with an interest and expertise in translating basic science advances into patient treatments and cures. In response to this demand, we propose to develop a four-year Training Program in the Neurobiology of Cognition and Cognitive Disorders at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). UAB is ideally poised to provide this novel type of Training Program. In the past decade UAB has made major financial, infrastructural and scholarly commitments to neuroscience research and training, including the recruitment of new outstanding chairs and faculty in neuroscience and the establishment of the McKnight Brain Institute, and new UAB Centers in Comprehensive Neuroscience, Glial Biology in Medicine, Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics, and Functional Neuroimaging. The proposed Training Program will have its administrative base in the Department of Neurobiology and include 42 training faculty from six basic science and six clinical departments in the UAB Schools of Medicine and Optometry. The goal of the Program is to train the next generation of leaders and thinkers in neurobiology research who have a solid foundation in molecular, cellular, and cognitive neuroscience, have exposure to current concepts in clinical research, value the importance of translating basic research into advancements in the treatment of cognitive disorders, and are prepared to use multidisciplinary and innovative research approaches to understand cognition and cognitive disorders. To achieve this goal, we propose to bring together a group of outstanding UAB faculty members working in cognition and cognitive disorders and allow them to teach a specialized curriculum including cqursework in molecular, cellular, developmental, integrative, medical, and cognitive neuroscience and diseases of the nervous system. In addition to this unique coursework, the specific "value added" components of the Training Program are a special translational/clinical training experience in patient-oriented research, dual basic science/clinical science mentorship and distinct extracurricular activities.