This proposal requests the continuation of support for predoctoral students during their first two years of a broad-based interdisciplinary PhD Program in Neuroscience at Wake Forest University. The Neuroscience Graduate Program has undergone considerable growth since its inception in 1990 and currently involves 47 faculty from 10 academic departments and currently has 20 PhD students in various stages of training. The rationale for this program is based on the enormous complexity of the nervous system, which requires the combined approaches of physiology, biochemistry, developmental biology, cell and molecular biology and clinical, behavioral and systems neuroscience. Accordingly, a major goal of our program since its inception is to provide students with a broad-based foundation in all aspects of neuroscience. Admission into the program is based on a student's past research experience, academic record, standardized test scores, recommendations, face-to-face interviews, and prior completion of course work in mathematics, inorganic, organic, biochemistry, and cell and molecular biology. In their first year, all students take a two-semester course (9 credits), Introduction to Neuroscience, composed of five, 6 -7 week long components that include: Neuroanatomy, Cell and Molecular Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, Sensor-Motor Systems and Cognitive-Computational Neuroscience. In their second year, all students take four, three-credit courses in Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Neuroseience, Neurochemistry/Neuropharmacology and Molecular Neurobiology. Other requirements include short courses/workshops in: Ethics and the Responsible Conduct of Science; Career Development; Teaching Skills; Scientific Grant Writing; and Experimental Design and Statistics. During their first academic year and summer, all students also complete 2 - 3 laboratory rotations to aid them in finding a PhD mentor, and they participate in focused Journal Clubs and seminars. By the second year, students are expected to have chosen a PhD mentor and begun dissertation related research. The training faculty represent expertise in diverse areas of neuroscience with major strengths in sensory systems, behavior, development, neuroplasticity, substance abuse, aging, cell death and neuropharmacology. The quality of both applicants and students entering the program has improved considerably over the past 10 years, including our improved success in minority recruitment; we currently have five African-American students in the program. Training and research facilities are excellent, and institutional support has been generous. Continued extramural support from NIH with expansion for the support of four students per year will foster and maintain the growth and excellence of this well-established interdisciplinary neuroscience graduate program.
| Christian, Daniel T; Alexander, Nancy J; Diaz, Marvin R et al. (2012) Chronic intermittent ethanol and withdrawal differentially modulate basolateral amygdala AMPA-type glutamate receptor function and trafficking. Neuropharmacology 62:2430-9 |
