Simple Vertebrate and Invertebrate Systems

DESCRIPTION (Adapted From The Abstract Provided By Applicant): This is a broadly-based multidisciplinary training program in Neurobiology that is now entering its 23rd year at Columbia. The program has both predoctoral and post-doctoral components. It is a cooperative effort between the Departments of Anatomy & Cell Biology, the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, and the Department of Biology. The Center for Neurobiology and Behavior now serves as the focal point for most of the neuroscientists at Columbia. This change, the consequent enlargement of the Center, and the addition of members of the Department of Biology have greatly strengthened Columbia?s program in Neuroscience. The University has also made a major commitment to continuing excellence in neurobiology by providing material funding and support. Many facilities and resources are available to the trainees through the three participating units. An important improvement has been a core imaging facility. Although the program has changed over the years, stability in the leadership has been maintained. The new faculty have thus added vitality without altering the focus of the program. The major goal is still to provide trainees with exposure to more than one discipline of neuroscience. Disciplines represented include molecular biology, developmental neuroscience, neuroanatomy (including newly developed methods of imaging), neurochemistry, neuroimmunology, neuropharmacology, neurophysiology, biophysics, and behavioral analysis. The training program has a faculty whose research interests are representative of most of the major approaches to modern neuroscience. These include recombinant DNA technology, patch-clamp analyses, electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, fluorescence assay of intracellular ions, cell culture, as well as methods of tracing neuronal interconnections and the movements of migrating neural and glial cells. The single most valuable element of training is research done under the sponsorship of members of the faculty. An important change has been to enhance and strengthen the formal monitoring of both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees. Joint sponsorship and the free transfer of trainees between laboratories is frequent. Training by mentorship is supplemented by core and elective courses, seminar series (in each of the 2 participating, units), research progress reports given by trainees and by members of the faculty, journal clubs, and a newly introduced (very popular) annual retreat. It is proposed that the size of the post-doctoral program be expanded, to 6 post-doctoral trainees, because of the large increase in applications for training that has occurred, the strong interest of the faculty in providing training, and the enhanced commitment of the University to the program (including the provision of supplemental support). Trainees that have entered the program have left it well prepared and much in demand for positions in academia and industry. Almost all trainees have continued to be productive in biomedical science and some have acquired leadership positions.