Training Opportunities

T32 UCLA Training Program in Translational Neuroscience of Drug Addiction

The UCLA Translational Neuroscience of Drug Addiction (TNDA) is set forth to link several successful UCLA research centers by establishing a unified training program. It provides trainees with an integrative knowledge base needed to plan and conduct bidirectional translational studies. These will include cutting-edge technical laboratory methods, computational approaches in data evaluation, and issues related to ethical treatment of human subjects.  As successful researchers must also become adept at identifying sources of research funding and at preparing fundable applications that can further their independent investigation, we will provide didactic training and mentoring in these important areas, with emphasis on skills in scientific writing and presentation to enhance dissemination of research findings. TNDA trainees will usually have a primary research project in a specific mentor’s laboratory, but will gain exposure to other areas of drug abuse research through laboratory rotations, common core training elements as well as by formal and informal interaction among key faculty and TNDA leadership.

UCLA provides a unique environment for a developing scientist to become a well-trained drug abuse researcher.  It offers a setting rich with resources for academic instruction, practical training, drug abuse study populations, and professional and peer relationships.  Given the close links between the primary research units of TNDA and clinical research conducted by some TNDA faculty, our trainees will have the opportunity to see the bidirectional progression of research from testing a medication that shows promise in clinical trials to determine relevant mechanism and sites of action, and then to identifying new agents with the same mechanism and site of action but possessing more favorable properties.


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