The goal of the Neurosciences Ph.D. Program is to train predoctoral Ph.D. students to become leaders in neuroscience who will help us understand how the nervous system functions, from molecules to systems, from embryo to adult, and in normal and diseased states. The training program has been designed to be broadly based during the first two years, prior to full-time thesis work. It includes courses in a set of core areas to make students fluent in the multidisciplinary language and approaches of the neurosciences. Rotations in three to four labs allow them to experience the intellectual atmosphere of several lab groups, to become familiar with invaluable experimental approaches, and enable them to make a more informed choice of thesis mentor and research area. These program elements provide students with a foundation for understanding the molecular, cellular, and systems/behavioral elements that enable the nervous system to function in an integrative manner. The program also includes a retreat seminar and invited lecturers. Support is requested for 11 trainees, 7 to be shifted from the existing NIMH (5) and NIGMS (2) training grants. There are 56 students in the program, including the incoming group that will matriculate in the fall. All students will be enrolled in Stanford University's interdepartmental Neurosciences Ph.D. Program, the only academic body at Stanford that awards a Ph.D. in neurosciences. The faculty is composed of 47 members from 12 departments in the School of Medicine and in the School of Humanities and Sciences. The faculty is highly interactive, well supported and diverse. Their research interests cover nearly every aspect of the structure and function of the nervous system including organization of pathways, sensorimotor integration, synaptic transmission and membrane excitability, structure and function of receptors and ion channels, neurohormones, gene expression, neural development, plasticity and regeneration. The Program Committee which reflects the broad interests of the program faculty will select trainees and monitor their progress. Selection is on the basis of scholastic achievements, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and interviews. The positions will be advertised nationally and applications will be solicited in accord with, and in the spirit of, affirmative action. Past trainees of the Program have been extremely successful in pursuing research careers.
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