The Neuroscience Curriculum (NBIO) at UNC-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) is one of the oldest neuroscience graduate training programs in the US having granted PhDs continuously for 52 years. NBIO has a reputation for excellence and rigor, and there has been constant recruitment of new faculty which keeps the program innovative and fresh. In support of NBIO, we request renewed funding for T32 NS007431, ?Neuroscience Predoctoral Training at UNC- Chapel Hill?. This T32 supports 10 stipends and enrichment funds for NBIO students in the 1st and 2nd year students in training. The T32 importantly impacts neuroscience graduate training at UNC-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) in several ways: 1) T32 support for travel provides access to career-enhancing enrichment activities for the most promising students. 2) T32 support increases student access to the best training labs. 3) T32 support enhances our recruitment and mentoring of UR trainees. 4) T32 support leverages resources provided by the UNC School of Medicine and thereby helps support the seminar series and the annual UNC Neuroscience Symposium and Retreat. NBIO is a comprehensive neuroscience graduate training program that has strong leadership and standing committees to guide the program, a thoughtfully constructed and rigorous Core course, a required course on programming and statistics for Neuroscience, and a diverse group of electives. There are numerous, well-attended community activities including weekly seminars by both students and visiting faculty, an annual symposium, presentation of the internationally recognized Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize, and an annual student organized Neuroscience Retreat. Mentoring in the program is continuous and there are well-designed activities to educate students about academic and non-academic careers, as well as mechanisms to enhance faculty mentoring of students. Faculty and students have outstanding publication records. Multiple previous trainees received individual NRSAs or other prestigious awards during the last funding period. Almost all trainees who received PhDs during the past 10 years are pursuing scientific careers including academic positions, positions in pharma/biotech, other scientific careers, completion of MD/PhD training, and postdoctoral fellowships. There is an outstanding record of recruiting and retaining UR trainees. Renewal would allow UNC?CH to continue training the next generation of neuroscientists including a strong contingent from UR groups.
?Neuroscience Predoctoral Training at UNC-Chapel Hill? supports predoctoral trainees in the Neuroscience Curriculum (NBIO) at the University of North Carolina ?Chapel Hill. Trainees take a rigorous course work and perform research in diverse areas of neuroscience with an emphasis on diseases-related approaches. Almost all trainees from the past ten years are pursuing careers in science with many associated with academic medical centers.
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