This program will provide predoctoral training of graduate students preparing for research careers in """"""""Computation and Neural Systems"""""""". It involves a total of 18 faculty members, 8 from the Division of Biology, 8 from the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, one from Physics and one with a joint appointment in Biology and in Engineering and Applied Science. This program is a continuation of a previous training grant supported by NIMH. The CNS program, established in 1986, is jointly organized by the Divisions of Biology, Engineering and Applied Science, and Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. The program's objective is to provide trainees with a broad knowledge of an inherently multidisciplinary field, while at the same time requiring an appropriate depth of knowledge in the particular field of thesis research. Research is loosely structured around three strands: 1) to elucidate the biochemical, biophysical, anatomical and physiological basis of how computations are carried out within the nervous system; 2) to understand the neuroronal basis of attention, perception, memory and other cognitive tasks in humans and animals; and 3) to mimic the architectures and processing strategies used by nervous systems in engineered systems (both software and hardware). Since 1989, 41 graduate students have been awarded a PhD in CNS. Currently, 43 graduate students are enrolled. The major components of our training activities are: 1) Each student's individual research program under one or more faculty sponsors; 2) an organized curriculum of mandatory graduate courses; 3) preparations for two qualifying examinations; and 4) an extensive seminar program. Support is requested in each year for ten predoctoral CNS trainees. Criteria for admissions to the training program will be applicants who have given early and sustained interest in Neuroscience. All but one training faculty and students are housed in three adjacent buildings clustered adjacent to one other on the North-West corner of the campus. One entire floor in the Beckman Institute is given over to the CNS program and faculty, including both the Director's and the Co-Director's lab, a computer laboratory, a wet efectrophysiology classroom and a seminar room. The CNS program is searching for one or more new faculty members. A major brain FMRI facility for both human and non-human primates is being added to the program.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)
Project #
5T32MH019138-14
Application #
6615556
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-BRB-P (01))
Program Officer
Desmond, Nancy L
Project Start
1990-09-01
Project End
2005-06-30
Budget Start
2003-07-01
Budget End
2004-06-30
Support Year
14
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$257,073
Indirect Cost
Name
California Institute of Technology
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
009584210
City
Pasadena
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
91125
Weir, Peter T; Dickinson, Michael H (2012) Flying Drosophila orient to sky polarization. Curr Biol 22:21-7
Soloveichik, David (2009) Robust stochastic chemical reaction networks and bounded tau-leaping. J Comput Biol 16:501-22
Einhauser, Wolfgang; Spain, Merrielle; Perona, Pietro (2008) Objects predict fixations better than early saliency. J Vis 8:18.1-26
Wilke, Claus O; Drummond, D Allan (2006) Population genetics of translational robustness. Genetics 173:473-81
Drummond, D Allan; Raval, Alpan; Wilke, Claus O (2006) A single determinant dominates the rate of yeast protein evolution. Mol Biol Evol 23:327-37
Drummond, D Allan; Iverson, Brent L; Georgiou, George et al. (2005) Why high-error-rate random mutagenesis libraries are enriched in functional and improved proteins. J Mol Biol 350:806-16
Drummond, D Allan; Bloom, Jesse D; Adami, Christoph et al. (2005) Why highly expressed proteins evolve slowly. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102:14338-43
Wilke, Claus O; Bloom, Jesse D; Drummond, D Allan et al. (2005) Predicting the tolerance of proteins to random amino acid substitution. Biophys J 89:3714-20
Drummond, D Allan; Silberg, Jonathan J; Meyer, Michelle M et al. (2005) On the conservative nature of intragenic recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102:5380-5
Adleman, L M; Rothemund, P W; Roweis, S et al. (1999) On applying molecular computation to the data encryption standard. J Comput Biol 6:53-63

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