Neurobiological Engineering Training Program

 描述（由申请人提供）：对大脑进行逆向工程是我们这个时代最大的科学和工程挑战之一，并且将取决于研究大脑的技术的许多突破。实现这些突破需要培养一代代在神经生物学和工程学领域知识渊博、技艺精湛的神经技术专家。认识到这一点，NIH BRAIN Initiative顾问小组的中期报告建议，培训是如何建立和传播创新神经技术的关键组成部分。在这里，我们建议创建一个新的神经生物工程培训计划（NBETP），解决了需要先进的，国家的最先进的神经技术在马萨诸塞州理工学院（MIT）的博士前培训。该计划的目标是教育一批高素质的学生，他们将从NBETP中脱颖而出，在基础神经科学和工程的交叉点上具有出色的专业知识和领导能力。这些学生将根据他们的兴趣和研究潜力以及多样性标准从现有的麻省理工学院研究生课程中选出。他们将通过课程和培训负责任地进行研究。他们还将有机会领导活动，并与教师和其他学生在他们的领域的顶部网络。被录取的学生将在 或者研究生二年级，刚开始专业化，选择研究项目，每人资助两年。 麻省理工学院的NBETP将以两个突出和创新的特点为特色。首先是它极端的多学科性， 这反映在参与该倡议的教师的广泛性上。该计划将特别扩展到较新的工程领域，如生物工程和材料科学，这将是下一代神经技术发展的核心，但从神经工程的更经典的概念中省略。NBETP的第二个标志将是其主要关注基础神经科学研究的技术开发，以及医学应用的扩展。该功能特别解决了目前迫切需要促进理解大脑功能的工具的开发。作为第一个同类计划，NBETP将直接使麻省理工学院从事神经技术研究的学生和教师受益。该计划将成为麻省理工学院跨部门和学科互动的强大催化剂，并将培养出训练有素的毕业生，这些毕业生将对全国的学术，工业和临床研究产生全球影响。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Reverse engineering the brain is one of the greatest scientific and engineering challenges of our time, and will depend on numerous breakthroughs in the technology for studying the brain. Achieving these breakthroughs will require training successive generations of neurotechnology experts who are highly knowledgeable and adept in both neurobiological and engineering fields. Recognizing this, the interim report of the NIH BRAIN Initiative advisory panel recommended that training be a key component of how innovative neurotechnologies are established and disseminated. Here we propose to create a new Neurobiological Engineering Training Program (NBETP) which addresses the need for advanced, state-of-the-art predoctoral training in neurotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The objective of the program is to educate a set of high quality students, who will emerge from the NBETP with outstanding expertise and leadership ability at the intersection of basic neuroscience and engineering. These students will be selected from existing MIT graduate programs according to their interests and research potential, as well as diversity criteria. They will be given a grounding via coursework and training in the responsible conduct of research. They will also be offered opportunities to lead activities and network with faculty and other students at the top of their field. Students admitted into the program will be in or entering their second year of graduate school, when they are just beginning to specialize and choose a research project, and they will be supported for two years each. MIT's NBETP will be characterized by two salient and innovative features. The first is its extreme multidisciplinarity, reflected in the breadth of faculty involved in the initiative. The program will extend in particulr to newer engineering fields, such as bioengineering and materials science, which will be central to the development of next generation neurotechnologies, but which are omitted from more classical conceptions of neuroengineering. A second hallmark of the NBETP will be its primary focus on technology development for basic neuroscientific research, as well as extensions to medical applications. This feature specifically addresses the currently pressing need to foster the development of tools for understanding brain function. As a first-of-its kind program, the NBETP will directly benefit students and faculty engaged in neurotechnology research at MIT. The program will serve as a powerful catalyst to interactions across departments and disciplines at MIT, and will produce highly trained graduates positioned to have global impact on academic, industrial, and clinical research throughout the country.