This application provides a plan for an Interdisciplinary and Translational Research Training Program (ITRTP) for predoctoral students in NeuroAIDS and related areas of research. This is a joint program from two institutions, Temple University and Drexel University, located in close proximity in Philadelphia, 'Pennsylvania. This program will also integrate training activities and research resources available in a long- tending M.D./Ph.D. and clinical research training programs in AIDS and Neurovirology based in the Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania. The proposed plan will create a city-wide interdisciplinary and translational research training program in NeuroAIDS through shared resources, joint research seminar series, journal club, symposia, invited speakers, thesis mentoring and educational opportunities at both institutions. The graduate curriculum at both institutions is designed to provide a broad based scientific foundation in biomedical science including Neuroscience, Immunology, Microbiology, Pharmacology and Physiology. This curriculum including Scientific Communication, Scientific Integrity and Bioethics, and Statistics, as well as courses in Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology and Pathogenesis of Neurobiological Diseases will prepare graduate student for thesis research in NeuroAIDS. Within Temple University School of Medicine, research opportunities in NeuroAIDS and related areas are available within the Department of Neuroscience, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Pharmacology, and Department of Physiology. Additional research opportunity is available in the School of Engineering. At Drexel University College of Medicine, research opportunities in NeuroAIDS and related areas are available in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Additional research opportunities are available in the School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Science Systems. This program brings together multiple biomedical basic science departments with biomedical engineering at two institutions, and integrates joint training activities with nearby University of Pennsylvania. With the inclusion of clinical AIDS investigators, the proposed program is not only interdisciplinary, but exposes students to training in neuroAIDS basic sciences to AIDS and NeuroAIDS related clinical perspectives. Investigators at Temple and Drexel have built strong, productive and well-funded NeuroAIDS research programs that are now sufficiently established to support formal comprehensive training in NeuroAIDS in areas ranging from molecular studies, in vitro systems, and pathogenesis studies in human and non-human.
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