Interdisciplinary Training in Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration

 描述(申请人提供)：运动障碍，如帕金森氏症、肌张力障碍和共济失调，剥夺了我们对环境采取行动的能力。每种疾病都会导致不必要的动作，使想要的动作更难执行，还会影响我们思考和处理情绪的方式。为了有效，对运动障碍的研究必须跨学科，并加强基础科学发现的转化，以帮助人类更有效地行动。这个运动障碍和神经恢复培训(MDNR)项目正面面对这个问题，它汇集了一群优秀的导师，他们拥有丰富的基础设施和资源，以培训专注于运动障碍的博士前学员。该计划结合了一大批训练有素的科学家，他们准备进行专注于翻译研究的ABC的研究：病因学、生物标记物/末端表型以及因果和基于症状的治疗。为此，该计划将涵盖以运动障碍为中心的三个领域：a)分子生物学和动物模型；b)翻译神经科学和生理学；c)人类运动和认知神经科学。这些主题中的具体方法可以从遗传学到分子、神经成像、神经修复到行为学，但中心焦点是运动障碍。学员是从具有不同背景的优秀学生中挑选出来的，并被五个研究生项目之一录取。一个关键的特点是，学员体验跨领域的实验室，论文委员会成员必须来自三个科学领域。MDNR项目利用了佛罗里达大学(UF)的现有优势和战略投资，包括在共济失调、帕金森氏病、非典型帕金森症和肌张力障碍方面的知名研究人员、杰出的基础科学动物研究设施、世界级的动物和人类成像设施、三个私人捐赠和基金会支持的帕金森氏病、肌张力障碍和共济失调卓越中心，以及UF运动障碍和神经恢复中心。这个以患者为中心的临床研究机构维护着世界上最大的、全面的临床研究数据库。在进入该项目后，每个学员都要准备一份个性化的职业发展计划，其中包括结构化的教学计划、专业课程、研讨会和实验室研究。跨分析级别的导师到导师互动建立了一个独特的学习环境，将为受训人员作为生物医学科学家的强大未来做好准备，这些科学家可以在运动障碍方面做出改变。这项关于运动障碍和神经修复的培训计划提供了一个跨学科的培训环境，这对推进运动障碍的病因学和治疗研究是至关重要的。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and ataxia strip away the ability to act on our environment. Each disease causes unwanted movements, makes desired movements more difficult to perform, and also affects how we think and process our emotions. To be effective, research into movement disorders must cross disciplines, and enhance the translation of basic science discoveries to help humans move more effectively. This Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration Training (MDNR) program confronts this problem head on by bringing together an outstanding group of mentors with a rich infrastructure and resources to train predoctoral Trainees focused on movement disorders. This program combines a critical mass of well-trained scientists prepared to conduct research focused on the ABC'S of translational research: an etiology, biomarkers/end phenotypes, and causative and symptom based therapies. To do so, the program will encompass three areas with a central theme of movement disorders: a) molecular biology and animal models; b) translational neuroscience and physiology, and c) human motor and cognitive neuroscience. Specific approaches within these themes can range from genetics to molecular to neuroimaging to neurorestoration to behavioral, but the central focus is movement disorders. Trainees are selected from a pool of outstanding students with diverse backgrounds and are admitted by one of five graduate programs. A key feature is that Trainees experience laboratories that cross areas, and dissertation committee members must come from each of the three scientific areas. The MDNR program capitalizes on existing strengths and strategic investments at the University of Florida (UF) including well-established investigators in ataxia, Parkinson's disease, atypical parkinsonism, and dystonia, outstanding animal research facilities for basic science, world class animal and human imaging facilities, three privately endowed and foundation supported Centers of Excellence for Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and ataxia, and the UF Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration. This patient-centered clinical research facility maintains the largest, comprehensive clinical research database in the world. Upon entering the program, each trainee prepares an individualized career development plan that consists of a structured didactic program, specialized courses, seminars, and laboratory research. The mentor to mentor interaction that crosses levels of analysis sets up a unique learning environment that will prepare Trainees for a strong future as biomedical scientists that can make a difference in movement disorders. This training program in Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration provides an interdisciplinary training environment that is fundamental to the advancement of research in the etiology and treatment of movement disorders.