UCLA Training Program in the Translational Neuroscience of Drug Addiction (TNDA)

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This application seeks support for a pre- and postdoctoral training program in the Translational Neuroscience of Drug Addiction (TNDA) at UCLA (requesting four predoctoral and four postdoctoral fellow positions). The TNDA draws faculty and trainees from 5 primary UCLA departments, overlapping in their training and research missions: the Depts of Psychology and Integrative Biology & Physiology within the Division of Life Sciences, the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Depts of Physiology and Neurobiology within the David Geffen School of Medicine, and the cross-campus Brain Research Institute (BRI). Each of these organizational academic units supports world-class research programs that are well-funded and resourced. TNDA predoctoral students are drawn from 3 degree-granting programs: the graduate programs in Psychology, the Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program administered by the BRI, and the Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology Interdepartmental Program administered by the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology. The TNDA has six aims. 1) To contribute meaningfully to developing of a diverse next generation of addiction neuroscientists. We recruit and enroll highly qualified candidates who are committed to translational research in drug addiction, including vigorously recruiting from underrepresented populations. 2) To provide hands-on experience at all stages of addiction research, including evidence-based hypothesis formation, experimental design, data acquisition and analyses, and preparing findings for oral and written presentation. 3) To ensure that trainees develop expertise in a specific research area and technology, while providing opportunities for trainees to acquire the breadth of knowledge needed to conduct translational addiction research. 4) To provide the resources, opportunities, and training to enable trainees to gather preliminary data, generate novel hypotheses and specific aims for NIH grant proposals, enabling success in securing independent funding. 5) To provide trainees a foundation of ethical conduct in biomedical research and transparent and open data science practices. 6) To provide career guidance so that trainees can successfully identify and secure professional positions. Accordingly, TNDA provides comprehensive interdisciplinary training through formal education and supervised research. The participating mentors have active research programs at all levels of analysis ─ from cell and molecular biology to systems and behavioral neuroscience to cognitive and clinical neuroscience. TNDA mentors agree to participate in multiple aspects of the program and their trainees with ample mentorship and laboratory resources. TNDA trainees have a primary project in a specific mentor's laboratory, but gain exposure to other areas of research through laboratory rotations, common core training, as well as by formal and informal interaction among TNDA faculty and leadership, including organized professional and social events. The Program Director and participating faculty have excellent records in research and past mentorship and strive to provide trainees with the knowledge needed to plan and conduct integrative, translational studies in the field of addiction.