This is a request for support of a predoctoral training program in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. The program is designed to prepare exceptional students for a productive research career in the analysis of the neural bases of behavior using cellular and molecular techniques or computational approaches. Training at both the behavioral and either cellular/molecular or computational levels is ensured by having two types of program faculty: primary trainers, whose research directly addresses issues in behavioral neuroscience; and secondary trainers, cell and molecular biologists or computational neuroscientists interested in collaborating on research problems with behavioral relevance. Training faculty are dawn from departments in four Schools of the University of Pennsylvania. Graduate education in the Life Sciences is based on independent interdepartmental """"""""Graduate Groups"""""""" which foster multi-disciplinary training courses and lab rotations from a rich and varied menu. The separate, University-mandated Office of Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) ensures curricular development, quality control, and uniform admission standards. Management of the Training Program will be by an interdepartmental executive committee that sets and reviews policy and selects and evaluates the progress of trainees. The predoctoral component of the proposed training grant serves for four Graduate Groups (Neuroscience, Biology, Pharmacology, and Psychology) as the major source of support for graduate students interested in behavioral neuroscience. The Behavioral Neuroscience training program encourages broad training with a behavioral emphasis by offering cooperatively taught courses, a biweekly Behavioral Neuroscience Seminar Series and associated journal club, and an annual Behavioral Neuroscience Retreat. In view of the continued expansion of Behavioral Neuroscience faculty at Penn, and the number of highly qualified trainees, we are requesting support for eight trainees per year for the next five years.
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