UT Austin Center for Learning & Memory Faculty Recruitment Proposal

描述(由申请人提供)：德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的学习和记忆中心(CLM)采用多学科方法研究学习和记忆的神经生物学。CLM促进了跨不同学科和不同分析水平的思想和专业知识的交流，同时保持了对学习和记忆机制的具体关注。除主任外，自2004年CLM成立以来，已招聘了三名杰出的高级教员和五名初级教员，他们的专业知识范围从人类功能成像到学习的系统水平分析，到突触整合和可塑性的细胞分析，到离子通道结构/功能的生物物理分析，再到神经元内分子信号的研究。主要目标是创造一个环境，通过跨越这些不同分析水平的教职员工之间有意义的合作来促进和支持科学发现。本提案概述了CLM教员之间已经建立的七个具体合作实例，以及CLM教员与大学其他系教员之间的四个协作实例，作为这种互动环境的证据。 该大学已承诺增加4名教员，并填补中心内目前空置和毗邻的实验室空间，然而，去年可用于启动一揽子计划的大学资金减少，使我们更难吸引最优秀的教职员工。我们已经确定了目前CLM教员没有很好代表的两个研究领域，这两个领域将是我们近期招聘工作的重点。这些是关于动物行为学习的分子生物学和系统分析。这项P30资金申请是为了补充大学用于启动一揽子计划的资源，并促进雇用两名新的终身教职跟踪教员进入CLM。此外，我们正在申请资金，以创建一个行为核心设施，为所有CLM教师提供实施用于评估转基因啮齿动物学习和记忆表型的全方位行为测试的能力。这种支持将推动CLM全面呈现学习和记忆研究的现代分析水平，并将对该中心的生产率、国际声誉以及促进脑机制和疾病方面的突破性发现的能力产生直接影响，这些突破性发现往往源于杰出研究人员之间的这些富有成效的多层次合作。 与公共健康相关：学习和记忆背后的神经机制在很大程度上是未知的，但它们对普通公众和科学界具有极大的兴趣和重要性。德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的学习和记忆中心是一个研究中心，拥有代表不同学科和分析水平的教职员工，其研究项目保持着对学习和记忆机制的关注。了解这些机制为了解学习和记忆障碍(包括脑损伤、神经退行性疾病、衰老和精神障碍)提供了必不可少的知识基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Center for Learning and Memory (CLM) at The University of Texas at Austin engages in a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the neurobiology of learning and memory. The CLM facilitates the exchange of ideas and expertise across different disciplines and levels of analysis, while maintaining a specific focus on the mechanisms of leaming and memory. In addition to the Director, three outstanding senior faculty and five junior faculty have been recruited into the CLM since its inception in 2004 with expertise that spans from functional imaging in humans, to systems level analysis of learning, to cellular analysis of synaptic integration and plasticity, to biophysical analysis of the structure/function of ion channels, to the investigation of the molecular signaling within neurons. The primary goal is to create an environment that fosters and supports scientific discoveries through meaningful collaborations among faculty that span these different levels of analysis. Seven specific examples of collaborations already established among CLM faculty and four examples of collaborations between CLM faculty and faculty in other departments at the University are outlined in this proposal as evidence of this interactive environment. The University has committed resources to hire an additional 4 faculty and to fill currently unoccupied and contiguous lab space within the Center, however a reduction in the University funds available for start-up packages in the past year has made it more difficult for us to attract the most outstanding faculty. We have identified two areas of research not well represented by current CLM faculty, and these would be the focus of our immediate-term recruiting efforts. These are molecular biology and systems analyses of learning in behaving animals. This request for P30 funding is to supplement University resources for start-up packages and to facilitate the hiring of two new tenure-track faculty members into CLM. In addition, we are requesting funding to create a behavioral core facility that would provide all CLM faculty with the ability to implement the full range of behavioral tests used to assess the learning and memory phenotype of genetically modified rodents. This support can be the driving force that will move the CLM toward full representation of modern levels of analysis of the study of learning and memory and will make an immediate impact on the Center's productivity, international reputation, and ability to foster the breakthrough discoveries in brain mechanisms and disease that often result from these productive, multi-level collaborations among outstanding investigators. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory are largely unknown, yet they are of enormous interest and importance to the general public and scientific community. The Center for Learning and Memory at UT Austin is a research center with faculty representing different disciplines and levels of analysis, whose research programs maintain a focus on mechanisms of learning and memory. Understanding these mechanisms provides the foundation of knowledge that is essential for understanding disorders of learning and memory, including brain injury, neurodegenerative disease, aging and psychiatric disorders.