Quantitative Neuroscience: Tools for Bridging Levels of Analysis

Project Summary This is a proposal to continue a long-standing postdoctoral training program at Brandeis University. This program integrates intensive quantitative and experimental training in a collaborative environment to produce neuroscientists who go on to successful careers applying these skills to solve the myriad problems posed by disorders of the nervous system. We will take a diverse and talented set of individuals with Ph.D.s in neuroscience, physics, math, computer science, engineering, and biological sciences and give them systematic and integrative training in the use of modern quantitative/analytical approaches bridging levels of analysis to understand nervous system function. We have designed a modular and collaborative training structure that allows trainees with disparate backgrounds to acquire the skills, training and flexibility they need to thrive as modern neuroscientists. Our program comprises a two-year sequence that systematically builds quantitative literacy, fluency with statistical methods and quantitative tools, training in rigor, experimental design and ethics, and grant-writing and communication skills. We intend to recruit 4 Postdoctoral Trainees/year into this 2-year program for a total of 8 slots, which maintains the previous level of support. We will magnify the impact of this training program by encouraging all Neuroscience postdocs, not only those appointed to the training grant, to participate. This will serve the purpose of building a collaborative postdoc community that collectively possesses and disseminates a broad set of quantitative skills, and where horizontal and vertical transmission of these skills will be an important feature of training. The richer this trainee and mentor community is, the more effective the training will be. To this end, we are committed to enhancing the diversity of our training program at all levels, and a set of concrete steps to accomplish this are proposed.