NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research: Computational Training in Neuroscience and Behavior (T90/R90 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Funding Agency:
- National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Blueprint for Neuroscience Research is a collaborative and coordinated effort across 12 Institutes and Centers that jointly support neuroscience-related research, with the aim of accelerating discoveries and reducing the burden of nervous system disorders (for further information, see http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov).
An exciting and ongoing challenge in neuroscience and behavioral research is the need to understand how complex biological systems work, and particularly to understand the computational principles and mechanisms underlying the function of the nervous system in health and disease. An associated challenge lies in managing and interpreting massive amounts of extremely complex experimental data obtained by today’s advanced neuroscience and behavioral research methods. Computational neuroscience and behavioral approaches (e.g. computational neuroscience, computational psychiatry) provide a theoretical foundation and set of technological approaches to meet these challenges at multiple levels of inquiry across the nervous system: molecular, cellular, circuits, networks, whole brain function, complex behavior, and social interactions.
Two major obstacles have been identified to the training of early stage computational neuroscience and behavioral researchers
- Individuals trained in the biological and behavioral sciences often do not have adequate background in the quantitative sciences
- Students with undergraduate degrees in the quantitative sciences and highly relevant technical skills often have little exposure to the exciting questions and experimental methods in neuroscience and behavioral research
To address these obstacles, a research education and training program that begins as early as possible and encourages “cross talk” among relevant subdisciplines within computational neuroscience and behavior is needed. Such a training program will expose undergraduate and graduate students to a wide range of neuroscience and behavioral questions, quantitative methods, and experimental systems to ensure a strong dual foundation in clinical and quantitative science. This foundation is expected to give trainees the ability to adopt new computational theory and methodology and apply these methods to relevant questions in health and disease.
Application budgets are not limited, but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project. Applicants proposing budgets of $500,000 or more in direct costs in any one year (excluding consortium F&A) are strongly encouraged to discuss the research project application with the lead Scientific/Research Contacts
November 29, 2022
John Fedota, Ph.D., National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Telephone: 301-402-0812; Email: john.fedota@nih.gov