Multidisciplinary Training in Neuroscience

PROJECT SUMMARY This project would continue support for the Multidisciplinary Training Program in Neuroscience at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland. The program, which is entering its 25th year, provides broad, early stage training for graduate students entering the Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP). The NGP is based within the Vollum Institute, but includes faculty and students in many centers, departments, and institutes on the OHSU campus. The program includes 61 students including the incoming class (ca. 10-12 per year). Our training faculty of 44 scientists offers thesis research opportunities that include all levels of modern neuroscience research from state-of-the-art cryoEM studies of membrane proteins and protein complexes to systems neuroscience to disease-oriented and translational neuroscience. The recruitment of new faculty has brought new areas of expertise that supplement the ongoing research strengths in the NGP. The program has a number of unique strengths and innovative features as fully outlined in the proposal. This aspect is highlighted by the creation since the last renewal of a Racial Equity and Inclusion Center that works specifically and solely with NGP and Vollum trainees and faculty, accompanied by a dramatic increase in the diversity of students in the program. Programmatic innovations include a unique core curriculum structure that begins in the first year with a six-week long session of didactic and practical lectures and workshops that provide a strong educational and community building foundation for the start of graduate studies. This is followed by a 12-week intensive course that provides a broad foundation in neuroscience for all students in the program. This curriculum format allows first-year students to engage in fulltime laboratory rotations within four months of matriculation. The core curriculum is supplemented by workshops and individual instruction in specific techniques as well as professional skills, ethics, and career planning. At all levels of training, emphasis is placed on fostering skills in experimental design, programming, and quantitative approaches so that trainees become experts in scientific methodology and rigor. The spirit among the large neuroscience community at OHSU, numbering approximately 140 affiliated scientists, combined with the broad scope of many research institutes and the close proximity of basic and clinical research facilities, provide an outstanding environment for early stage pre-doctoral students to establish and benefit from cross-disciplinary collaborations. This foundation will foster the skills necessary for graduates to be successful in a full range of science-related careers.