Basic biomedical research on alcohol has undergone remarkable growth at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in the past ten years. Currently, five Department of Neurosciences faculty are principal investigators on one or more extramural grants for alcohol research. Three other department faculty have NIAAA research grants pending. Having reached a critical mass of funded investigators with a strong record of multidisciplinary research collaboration, the Alcohol Research Group is striving to take the next step by establishing mechanisms to support an Alcohol Research Training in Neurosciences (ARTN) program. If this NIAAA-sponsored training grant application is funded, the ARTN Program would use these funds to provide three years of support for four additional graduate students recruited into UNM's Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. First year ARTN program trainees would complete one year of required and selected coursework and conduct three rotations in laboratories of ARTN program core or affiliated faculty. Second-year trainees would take upper level neuroscience graduate courses and prepare a dissertation proposal. Third-year trainees would begin their dissertation research with a core faculty member and would apply for an F-31 award to support the remainder of their predoctoral training experience. Drs. Perrone-Bizzozero (as PI), Allan, Caldwell, Valenzuela and Savage, all Department of Neurosciences faculty members, will comprise the ARTN program core faculty steering committee. Eleven other faculty at UNM will serve as affiliated faculty. The Department of Neurosciences has a long history of effective teaching and research interactions by a group of faculty with diverse backgrounds in research training. During the past four years, the department has hired three new junior faculty, renovated most of its laboratory space, established a two-year cycle of upper level neuroscience graduate courses, and doubled its research revenues. In support of this training grant application, the department will commit resources to cost-share faculty salary support, student tuition, fees and health insurance, stipend supplements, recruiting expenses and expenses associated with an annual retreat. In addition, the department and the School of Medicine will provide ARTN program trainees access to its core facilities, which include state-of-the-art equipment for use in the study of molecular neurobiology, functional genomics and proteomics, neuroimaging, neuroanatomy, electrophysiology, and behavioral neuroscience. The ARTN program will encourage its trainees to take full advantage of the diversity in the neuroscience community at UNM to undertake multidisciplinary research projects that will increase their potential to become successful alcohol research investigators in the future.
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