This is a request for continued support of an expanded training program in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. The program is designed to prepare exceptional students for a productive research career in the neuroscience of behavior, from CNS-controlled mechanisms of homeostasis to perception and cognition. Training at both the behavioral/cognitive and cellular/molecular levels is ensured by having two types of training faculty: primary trainers, whose research directly addresses issues in behavioral/cognitive neuroscience; and secondary trainers, cell and molecular biologists or computational and imaging neuroscientists interested in collaborating on research problems with behavioral relevance. Training faculty are drawn 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 laboratory rotations from a rich and varied menu. The separate, University-mandated Office of Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) ensures curricular development, quality control, and uniform admissions 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 students interested in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience. The training program encourages broad training with a behavioral/cognitive emphasis by offering cooperatively taught course, a biweekly Behavioral/Cognitive Neuroscience Seminar Series and associated journal club, and an annual Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Retreat. In view of the continued expansion of Behavioral and Cognitive 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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