Anesthesiology Research Training

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed program will provide support for two years of postgraduate research training in the Health Sciences Division of Columbia University to qualified applicants who have committed to or are enrolled in postgraduate training in anesthesiology. The program will provide for four trainees, two in their fifth and two in their sixh postgraduate years. Research opportunities are offered by twenty four participating faculty members with proven records of success in the training of postdoctoral fellows, both within the Department of Anesthesiology as well as from nine collaborating departments, four in basic sciences: Pharmacology, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Pathology and Cell Biology, and the multidisciplinary Center for Neurobiology and Behaivor; and five clinical departments/divisions: Pulmonary Medicine, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics and Psychiatry. Research areas include, but are not limited to, modulation of neurotransmission by excitatory amino acids; molecular mechanisms of opioid addiction, tolerance and withdrawal; molecular mechanisms of neuronal plasticity in chronic pain; structure/function of ligand gated ion channels; anesthetic and alcohol modulation of gene expression; smooth muscle cell signaling; adenosine receptor physiology; mechanisms of organ injury and protection from ischemia-reperfusion injury; molecular mechanisms of airway remodeling in chronic lung disease; imprinting and genetic control of obesity and diabetes. During the first year the trainee will familiarize him or herself with the problems being investigated in the research program by participating in ongoing research projects. Toward the end of this period of assimilation it is expected that the trainee, with appropriate guidance, will formulate an independent project to be conducted largely during the second year under the close mentorship of the participating faculty member. With the continued support of the Department of Anesthesiology following training, this program will lead to the establishment of independent physician-investigators using modern methods and techniques to help meet the research needs of the specialty of anesthesiology in the twenty first century.