Wednesday, January 15, 2025
1/15/2025
ABSTRACT This is a proposal for the first renewal of a focused training program in basic and translational approaches to neurodegenerative disease for predoctoral students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The rationale for a specialized program in this area is founded on several critical factors, including the aging of the US population, which has led to dramatic growth in the numbers of patients affected by neurodegenerative disease, and rapid expansion of funding for research on neurodegenerative diseases, which is increasing the need for well-trained investigators. UAB has invested heavily in this area making it an ideal environment for such a training program; during the current cycle UAB become one of only four institutions in the country currently with NIH funding for both a Udall Center for Excellence in Parkinson’s Disease and an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. A primary goal of the Training Program in Neurodegeneration is to achieve broad competence in neurodegeneration research; we seek to expose students to the biological mechanisms and research approaches used across neurodegenerative disease, rather than the single-disease training they might receive working in an individual research laboratory. This program provides support for advanced pre-doctoral students in the research phase of their training. Most students enter the Training Program in Neurodegeneration from the UAB Graduate Biomedical Science Program, which admits about 70 students annually, or the UAB Medical Scientist Training Program, which admits 10 students annually. Students work under the supervision of one of 29 highly qualified and well-funded mentors. Five of these are junior mentors, and there are plans for mentor development and co-mentoring. The program incorporates required didactic course work in neurodegeneration and experimental rigor, workshops in quantitative analysis of big data, training in new tools and technologies, specialized journal clubs, experience with an array of presentation styles ranging from datablitzes to lay talks, an annual retreat, and mentor and outcomes evaluations. Diversity is emphasized and the program serves a high proportion of trainees from underrepresented groups. Our core philosophy is to enable the cures of the future by providing a robust training pathway in translational neurodegeneration research. This unique emphasis will enable our students to take leading roles in therapeutic discovery across the spectrum of different skills sets and enterprises which are required to deliver the vitally needed treatments of the future.
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