PRE-DOCTORAL TRAINING IN INTERDISCIPLINARY NEUROSCIENCE

 描述(由申请人提供)：本提案要求继续资助德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校(UT-Austin)神经科学研究所(INS)已建立的神经科学研究生培训计划。该项目正在成为全国公认的神经科学培训卓越中心，创建了一个新的神经科学系，建设了新的戴尔医学院，由神经科学家克莱·约翰斯顿担任首任院长，并招聘了优秀的教员。教职员工在神经科学、心理学、药理学和毒理学、计算机科学、生物医学工程、运动学、通信科学和疾病以及营养学方面都有任命，并坚决参与作为INS一部分的8个著名中心，包括学习和记忆中心、感知系统中心、细胞和分子生物学研究所、瓦格纳酒精和成瘾研究中心、戴尔儿科研究所、行为神经科学、成像研究中心和计算可视化中心。该项目在感知系统、学习和记忆以及成瘾研究的神经科学方面具有独特的优势，学院提供从分子到生物化学、结构、生理学、行为、神经行为学和进化的各个层次的出色培训，并在所有水平上利用先进的计算和理论。这种广度为研究生提供了广泛的跨学科研究培训选择，培训学院有大量的资金来促进他们的研究。我们建议为4名新实习生和4名二年级实习生(每年总计8名)提供博士前资助。培训计划要求包括：新的训练营和实验室研究轮换和研讨会演示，神经科学原理课程，详细说明负责任的科学行为的科学/伦理课程，实验设计和统计课程，以及包括疾病神经科学课程在内的4门选修课。学生还必须完成至少1个学期的研究生水平课程，该课程由INS教员指导，与神经科学研讨会系列有关，在研讨会上，学生提交演讲者工作中的论文，并亲自与演讲者讨论研究。他们还参加了至少1个与他们的项目相关的专业期刊俱乐部。学生在二年级开始加入研究实验室，完成课程和资格考试，包括在二年级结束时以NIH拨款形式为他们的研究计划书进行口头辩护。我们的招聘策略变得更加成功，申请者的质量和多样性反映了这一点。广泛的跨学科培训独特地为我们的 在神经科学方面取得研究成功的受训人员，这对脑部疾病的病因学、病理生理学和治疗的进步至关重要。此外，在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀校区建立戴尔医学院将极大地促进我们的翻译神经科学研究。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests continued funding of an established Neuroscience Graduate Training Program in the Institute for Neuroscience (INS) at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). This program is becoming a nationally recognized center of excellence in neuroscience training with the creation of a new Department of Neuroscience, construction of the new Dell Medical School with Clay Johnston, a neuroscientist, as the inaugural Dean, and recruitment of outstanding Faculty. Faculty have appointments in Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Kinesiology, Communication Sciences and Disorders, and Nutrition and resolutely participate in 8 prestigious centers that are part of the INS, including the Center for Learning and Memory, Center for Perceptual Systems, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, Dell Pediatric Research Institute, Behavioral Neuroscience, Imaging Research Center, and Computational Visualization Center. The program has particular strengths in the neuroscience of perceptual systems, learning and memory, and addiction research, and Faculty provide excellent training across levels of inquiry from molecules to biochemistry, structure, physiology, behavior, neuroethology, and evolution with advanced computation and theory at all levels. This breadth provides graduate students with extensive options for training in cross-disciplinary research, and the training Faculty have substantial funding to foster their research. We propose predoctoral funding for 4 new trainees and 4 second-year trainees (totaling 8 per year). The training program requirements include: a new Boot Camp and laboratory research rotations and seminar presentations, 2 principles of neuroscience courses, a science/ethics course detailing responsible scientific conduct, a course in experimental design and statistics, and 4 electives including a neuroscience of disease course. Students must also complete at least 1 semester of a graduate level course directed by an INS Faculty member that is associated with the neuroscience seminar series, where students present papers from the speaker's work and personally discuss research with the speaker. They also participate in at least 1 specialized journal club related to their project. Students join a research lab by the beginning of year 2 and complete coursework and qualifying exams, including oral defense of their research proposal written in NIH grant format by the end of year 2. Our recruitment strategies have become even more successful as reflected in the quality and diversity of the applicants. The broad interdisciplinary training uniquely prepares our trainees for research success in neuroscience, which is crucial for advancements in the etiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of brain diseases. Furthermore, the founding of the Dell Medical School on the UT-Austin campus will greatly facilitate our translational neuroscience research.