THE PROGRAM IN NEUROSCIENCE (NS) provides training in the study of the nervous system from cellular and molecular to system levels of organization. A significant training component is also devoted towards understanding and treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases. This multidisciplinary program draws on knowledge from the traditional disciplines from more than 20 departments in the School of Medicine, College and Centers of Emory University. Many participating Faculty are also part of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Georgia Institute of Technology. While investigation of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system requires special knowledge, neuroscientists also must be experts in one or more of the sciences that provide important analytical tools for this work.

EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES:
After acceptance by the interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, advisors help students plan an individual program of study. The first-year core curriculum, taken by most students, focuses on basic cell, molecular and systems neurobiology. Subsequent years of study are flexible and can be tailored to each student’s specific interests. The most fundamental areas of neurobiological research deal with gene expression, behavior, intra- and intercellular communication, regulation of excitability and brain diseases. However, to understand the brain one must also know how networks of nerve cells operate as a system. Neuroscientists who analyze neural systems build on knowledge obtained by colleagues who work at the molecular and cellular levels to determine the mechanisms of sensation, memory, movement, and control of internal organs. In turn, information from neuroscientists helps researchers interested in behavior, cognition, and learning explore the brain processes underlying higher forms of mental activity. The neuroscience program actively encourages the flow of information between investigators and students working in different fields of neuroscience. Many investigators in the division collaborate on research to help solve neurobiological problems through interdisciplinary teams.

NEUROLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES:
More than 50 faculty have research interests towards understanding the neural substrates of neurological and psychiatric diseases. One of the major strengths of our program is the broad range of research accessible to graduate students due to the large number of neuroscience faculty that belong to clinical departments. For instance, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is comprised of many faculty who combine basic and clinical research to understand the neurochemical changes that underlie psychotic diseases such as schizophrenia, depression and drug dependence. Emory is also acknowledged as a leader in the study of the pathogenesis, pathophysiology and experimental therapeutics of Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s diseases. These research areas include a broad range of projects that span from basic in vitro and in vivo mechanistic studies in cell culture and animal models to clinical studies in patients. The success of faculty in these research areas has been recognized nationally by the development of two national center grants. The Center for Neurodegenerative Disease is an interdisciplinary center that fosters and integrates studies on the mechanisms of neurodegeneration, neuroprotection, brain repair and experimental therapeutics. The Center focuses on translational research and utilizes basic cell and molecular approaches to animal models of disease, proof-of-principle testing of new therapeutics, to preclinical testing in animals and ultimately clinical trials in humans. The Emory Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC) is one of 29 Alzheimer's disease core research centers established at major medical centers and funded by the National Institute on Aging at the NIH. The ADC provides core resources that serve as the foundation for the development of expanded multidisciplinary research activities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. These research themes are also synergistic with the unique contributions of Emory investigators in the field of mitochondrial genetics examining mitochondrial abnormalities in neurodegenerative and other disorders.

NEUROPHARMACOLOGY:
More than 20 Faculty pursue research that encompass various aspects of neuropharmacology. Emory University is one of the world's premier universities for those interested in the neurobiology and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, substance abuse and epilepsy. Indeed, there are 12 faculty members in our program (more than any other university) who are members of the prestigious American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (http://www.acnp.org). Strengths include the neurobiological substrates of social and affiliative behaviors, fear, anxiety, stress and depression. These strengths are equally complimented by expertise on the pharmacology of anxiolytic, antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs, drugs of abuse and glutamate receptors. This expertise has recently been rewarded with the NIH-funded Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Illness.

BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE:
Behavioral neuroscience is the main research interest of more than 30 Faculty in the Neuroscience Program. Strengths include computational and functional imaging studies of brain alterations in drugs dependence, neurobiology of learning and memory, alterations in cognitive function and aging, psychobiology of motivation and social behavior, regulation of neuroendocrine functions, molecular and neurochemical substrates of social behavior and fear conditioning, functional integration of motor and vestibular information in control of eye movements, neural basis of visual attention and neural substrates of motor control in normal and apthological conditions. A major asset of our Program in this field of research is the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience which brings together scientists from 8 Atlanta colleges and universities to study the neurobiology of social behavior (affiliation, reproduction, aggression, and fear). Center investigators have formed collaborations to address the neurobiology of these behaviors in diverse model systems, ranging from C. elegans to primates (including humans). Supporting this effort are 6 core laboratories with expertise in molecular, cellular, systems, computational, imaging, and behavioral neuroscience. The program is supported by a Science and Technology Center award from the National Science Foundation.

NEURAL SYSTEMS:
This program comprises a broad range of scientists interested in various aspects of learning and memory in primates using functional brain imaging and in vivo electrophysiology. It also includes studies of basal ganglia and spinal cord mechanisms that control muscles; motor control in invertebrates; analysis of cerebral cortex cells that control limb movement in alert, behaving monkeys; plasticity in the visual system of monkeys; cross-modal interactions between sensory systems; mechanisms of vestibular and visual integration into control of eye movements, and central regulation of autonomic functions.

MOTOR CONTROL AND MOVEMENT SCIENCE:
Motor control is one of the major foci of the Neuroscience Program at Emory with over 20 Faculty working in this area. Research spans the range from the study of the cellular mechanisms of rhythmic pattern generators to clinically related research. Areas of interest include spinal motor mechanisms and neuromuscular physiology, the anatomy and physiology of the basal ganglia, the physiology of oculomotor behavior, functions of cortical motor areas, functional imaging of the motor system, pathophysiology and treatments for Parkinson's disease, and motor rehabilitation following stroke. The neural basis of vestibular and visual integration into control of eye movements and the central regulation of autonomic functions are additional interests of our program.

CELLULAR, MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE:
Almost 50 Faculty in our program work in the field of cellular, molecular and developmental neurobiology. Areas of interest include mechanisms of signal transduction by neuromediators, basic mechanisms of neurotransmitter release, synaptic transmission and vesicle trafficking, structure-function of ion channels, calcium signaling, synaptic plasticity, neuronal modeling, molecular substrates of drug addiction, schizophrenia and neurodegenerative diseases as well as mechanisms that regulate social behaviors and neuronal development. Developmental studies of the spinal cord, the mammalian auditory organ and the enteric nervous systems are additional strengths of this program.

COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE:
This area of research encompasses a diverse set of approaches in which mathematical and computational tools are used to better understand the nervous system. Computer modeling ranges from simulation of the kinetics of single ion channels, to biologically realistic single-neuron models, network models, and models of cognitive processes.  Experimental techniques utilized include the creation of neural hybrid systems interfaces between biological neurons and computer-simulated or micro-engineered components, and real-time feedback control allowing computational analysis of an ongoing data stream to be used to dynamically interact with the biological preparation. Computational neuroscience is not located in a single department, but is a well-established community created through joint ventures and collaborations between Emory, Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University faculty.