Neuroscience Training Program at Washington University

This proposal, from the Neuroscience Program in Washington University’s Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS), is a new application to the Jointly Sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences. The overarching goals of our Neuroscience program are to equip our trainees with a firm foundation in nervous system function and dysfunction, the ability to identify problems and design strategies to address them critically and rigorously, and the skills required to perform, present, and mentor others in research. The strengths of our current training program include a strong and evolving curriculum to address critical areas of modern neuroscience and the skills necessary for success in any neuroscience career, a focus on improving diversity of students in neuroscience and retaining diverse students in the program, a collegial and collaborative atmosphere, broad institutional support, multiple neuroscience-related opportunities for community outreach and teaching and a supportive administrative structure that facilitates all aspects of the educational process, from recruitment of students to thesis defense and beyond. This proposal builds on these features with ongoing and future initiatives aimed at improving quantitative, experimental and statistical thinking, facilitating interdisciplinary and/or advanced training in areas relevant to a student’s research, modernizing curriculum delivery, providing evidence-based ethics training to address well-publicized problems of rigor and reproducibility, and assessing the impact of these initiatives and modifying their implementation as needed. We are requesting 11 slots for students in their 1st and 2nd years. Students will emerge from this program with a stronger foundation in experimental and statistical thinking, ethics and methods to improve rigor and reproducibility. Faculty in the program will also benefit from exposure to emerging methods and approaches in these areas.