Predoctoral research training at the interface of brain, body, and behavior - Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. The goal of this training program, “Predoctoral Training at the Interface of Brain, Body, and Behavior” (BBB) at Brandeis University, is to produce independent scientists prepared to discover the mechanisms of cognition, affect, social relations, perception, and action, to optimize these mental and behavioral capacities across the lifespan, and to mitigate losses due to disease, injury, and environmental stress. The BBB training emphasizes the interface of concepts and methods of psychology, neuroscience, and biomedical research, while building a lasting cohort composed of both training grant appointees and students who voluntarily follow the program. This renewal application under NIGMS PAR-23-228 refines a current BBB training program which was funded for 5 years under this funding mechanism following a previous 10 years of funding under an FOA that expired. BBB is grounded in the extensive overlap of the Psychology and Neuroscience PhD programs, in the context of the Volen Center for Complex Systems, an umbrella for multi-disciplinary neuroscience research and graduate training. The success of the current cycle was overcoming hurdles to co-training Psychology and Neuroscience students: Its innovation was appointing both Psychology and Neuroscience students and giving them complementary co-training in each other’s laboratories, courses and extra-curriculars. The new cycle will double down and focus on the most successful aspects of co-training to date. We propose 4 NIGMS slots evenly divided between Psychology and Neuroscience, forming pairs of students advancing under each other’s influence. Because of differences in graduate curricula, Psychology appointees will be supported in years 1-2 and Neuroscience students in years 2-3, but all will engage in BBB activities from year 1 to graduation. Trainees will be appointed for one year at a time but are expected to be appointed for two years. There will be 9 training mentors with primary Psychology appointments (8 of which are affiliated with the Neuroscience program; for programs, faculty have primary appointments in a department, typically Psychology or Biology). Training and rotations will be supported by 3 additional affiliated faculty. Psychology and Neuroscience students will train side-by-side in the same laboratory, permanently or as rotators. The BBB program capitalizes on curriculum overlap - especially in quantitative and rigorous methodological training - across the entire Division of Science, which enables and encourages Psychology and Neuroscience students to satisfy course electives across departments and programs. Additional ways of satisfying BBB co-training requirements are for students to rotate across inter-disciplinary laboratories and engage in coordinated journal clubs. The program will emphasize training in rigor and reproducibility of research, including consideration of the representativeness of samples, and exploration of careers routes and skill development (data analysis, writing, grantsmanship) with social cohort-building components. Activities will prepare trainees for various careers in biomedical research, in academia, government, healthcare, or industry.
