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Detailed Information

Program of Study

The neuroscience graduate program at the University of Connecticut Health Center offers an interdisciplinary training environment that is committed to preparing students for research and teaching careers in both academic and industrial settings. The curriculum and research are dedicated to understanding the normal function and disorders of the nervous system.

All course requirements are fulfilled within the first two years of the program. Introductory core courses establish a strong foundation in molecular, cellular, and systems-level neurobiology.

A wide selection of advanced elective courses on such topics as physiology of excitable tissue, computational neuroscience, neuropharmacology, neuroimmunology, neurobiology of disease, microscopy, biochemistry, immunology, genetics, and cell biology allows tailoring of the curriculum to accommodate the specific needs and diverse interests of students. Participation in weekly journal clubs provides a broad perspective of cutting-edge research in the field.

During the first year of the program, three research rotation projects are performed in laboratories of the student’s choice and a laboratory is identified for the dissertation research project by the beginning of the second year. Experimental training opportunities ranging from recombinant DNA to human studies are available. The breadth of these opportunities is shown in a survey of the areas of faculty research, which include regulation of gene expression, signal transduction, and intracellular trafficking in neurons and glia; function of voltage-sensitive ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors; biology of neuropeptides; synaptic transmission and neuroplasticity; development of neurons and glia; synaptic organization and stimulus coding; and sensory perception, behavior, and human psychophysics. Research pertaining to specific maladies of the nervous system includes neuroinflammation, autoimmunity, and neurodegeneration; substance abuse; stroke; epilepsy; multiple sclerosis; and deafness. Approaches employed include genetic engineering; cell and brain slice cultures; stem cells; electrophysiology; confocal microscopy and other imaging; neuroanatomical, virtual cell and mathematical modeling; and behavioral and transgenic animal models.

Research Facilities

Because of the interdepartmental format, the students have access to all of the facilities of modern biomedical research at the University of Connecticut Health Center, including those in clinical and basic science departments. Most of the neuroscience faculty members are housed in the same building on adjoining floors, providing for a congenial atmosphere of informal scientific exchange and collaborations between laboratories. The Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling (CCAM) has state-of-the-art facilities for confocal and two-photon microscopy and image analysis and is available to members of the Program in Neuroscience. The Lyman Maynard Stowe Library has an extensive collection of periodicals and monographs as well as subscriptions to journals of current interest in the field of neuroscience.

Financial Aid

Support for doctoral students engaged in full-time degree programs at the Health Center is provided on a competitive basis. Graduate research assistantships for 2009–10 provide a stipend of $27,000 per year, which includes a waiver of tuition/University fees for the fall and spring semesters and a student health insurance plan. While financial aid is offered competitively, the Health Center makes every possible effort to address the financial needs of all students.

Cost of Study

For 2009–10, tuition is $4455 per semester ($8910 per year) for full-time students who are Connecticut residents and $11,565 per semester ($23,130 per year) for full-time out-of-state residents. General University fees are added to the cost of tuition for students who do not receive a tuition waiver. These costs are usually met by traineeships or research assistantships for doctoral students.

Living and Housing Costs

There is a wide range of affordable housing options in the greater Hartford area within easy commuting distance of the campus, including an extensive complex that is adjacent to the Health Center. Costs range from $600 to $900 per month for a one-bedroom unit; 2 or more students sharing an apartment usually pay less. University housing is not available.

Student Group

Twenty-two students are registered in the Ph.D. program (including combined-degree students). The total number of master’s and Ph.D. students at the Health Center is approximately 400, and there are about 125 medical and dental students per class.

Location

The Health Center is located in the historic town of Farmington, Connecticut. Set in the beautiful New England countryside on a hill overlooking the Farmington Valley, it is close to ski areas, hiking trails, and facilities for boating, fishing, and swimming. Connecticut’s capital city of Hartford, 7 miles east of Farmington, is the center of an urban region of approximately 800,000 people. The beaches of the Long Island Sound are about 50 minutes away to the south, and the beautiful Berkshires are a short drive to the northwest. New York City and Boston can be reached within 2½ hours by car. Hartford is the home of the acclaimed Hartford Stage Company, TheatreWorks, the Hartford Symphony and Chamber orchestras, two ballet companies, an opera company, the Wadsworth Athenaeum (the oldest public art museum in the nation), the Mark Twain house, the Hartford Civic Center, and many other interesting cultural and recreational facilities. The area is also home to several branches of the University of Connecticut, Trinity College, and the University of Hartford, which includes the Hartt School of Music. Bradley International Airport (about 30 minutes from campus) serves the Hartford/Springfield area with frequent airline connections to major cities in this country and abroad. Frequent bus and rail service is also available from Hartford.

The Health Center

The 200-acre Health Center campus at Farmington houses a division of the University of Connecticut Graduate School, as well as the School of Medicine and Dental Medicine. The campus also includes the John Dempsey Hospital, associated clinics, and extensive medical research facilities, all in a centralized facility with more than 1 million square feet of floor space. The Health Center’s newest research addition, the Academic Research Building, was opened in 1999. This impressive eleven-story structure provides 170,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratory space. The faculty at the center includes more than 260 full-time members. The institution has a strong commitment to graduate study within an environment that promotes social and intellectual interaction among the various educational programs. Graduate students are represented on various administrative committees concerned with curricular affairs, and the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) represents graduate students’ needs and concerns to the faculty and administration, in addition to fostering social contact among graduate students in the Health Center.

Applying

Applications for admission should be submitted on standard forms obtained from the Graduate Admissions Office at the UConn Health Center or on the Web site. The application should be filed together with transcripts, three letters of recommendation, a personal statement, and recent results from the General Test of the Graduate Record Examinations. International students must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to satisfy Graduate School requirements. The deadline for completed applications and receipt of all supplemental materials is December 15. Earlier submission of applications is recommended, and interviews are considered highly desirable. Applicants should have had undergraduate instruction in chemistry and biology. In accordance with the laws of the state of Connecticut and of the United States, the University of Connecticut Health Center does not discriminate against any person in its educational and employment activities on the grounds of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, or physical disability.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Srdjan Antic, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; M.D., Belgrade. Dendritic integration of synaptic inputs; dopaminergic modulation of dendritic excitability.
• Rashmi Bansal, Associate Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Central Drug Research Institute, 1976. Developmental, cellular, and molecular biology of oligodendrocytes; growth-factor regulation of development and function and its relationship to neurodegenerative disease, including multiple sclerosis.
• Elisa Barbarese, Professor of Neuroscience and Neurology; Ph.D. McGill, 1978. Molecular and cellular biology of neural cells, with emphasis on RNA trafficking.
• Leslie R. Bernstein, Associate Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Illinois, 1984. Behavioral neuroscience: psychoacoustics, binaural hearing.
• John H. Carson, Professor of Molecular, Microbial, and Structural Biology; Ph.D., MIT, 1972. Molecular and developmental neurobiology; myelination; intracellular RNA trafficking.
• Lisa Conti, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; Ph.D., Vermont, 1986. Behavioral neuroscience: roles of stress and neuropeptides in animal models of psychiatric disorders.
• Jonathan Covault, Associate Professor of Psychiatry; M.D., Ph.D., Iowa, 1982. Genetic correlates of alcohol use disorders; role of neuroactive steroids in the effects of alcohol.
• Stephen Crocker, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Ottawa. Brain injury and repair in neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on neuroinflammation; myelin injury; neural stem cell differentiation; signal transduction; glia; matrix metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors.
• Betty Eipper, Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Harvard, 1973. Cell biology, biochemistry, and physiology of peptide synthesis, storage, and secretion in neurons and endocrine cells.
• Marion E. Frank, Professor of BioStructure and Function and Director, Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center; Ph.D., Brown, 1968. Gustatory neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, behavior, and disorders; chemosensory information processing; clinical testing of oral chemosensory function in humans.
• James Hewett, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1991. Mechanisms of cell injury and inflammation in the central nervous system.
• Sandra Hewett, Associate Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1992. Mechanisms underlying acute and chronic cell death in the central nervous system.
• Duck O. Kim, Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering Program; D.Sc., Washington (St. Louis), 1972. Neurobiology and biophysics of the auditory system; computational neuroscience of single neurons and neural systems; experimental otolaryngology; biomedical engineering.
• Shigeyuki Kuwada, Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Cincinnati, 1973. Neurophysiology and anatomy of mammalian auditory system; principles of binaural signal processing, electrical audiometry in infants.
• Eric S. Levine, Associate Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Princeton, 1992. Synapse plasticity and role of neuromodulators in brain development and learning, focusing on neurotrophins and endocannabinoids.
• James Li, Professor of Genetics and Developmental Biology; Ph.D., Texas. Development of the central nervous system, with an emphasis on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying formation of the mammalian cerebellum.
• Xue-Jun Li, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Fudan (China). Stem cell biology: mechanisms and pathways underlying the development and degeneration of human motor neurons, using human stem cells as an experimental system.
• Leslie Loew, Professor of Cell Biology; Ph.D., Cornell, 1974. Morphological determinants of cell physiology; image-based computational models of cellular biology; spatial variations of cell membrane electrophysiology; new optical methods for probing living cells.
• Xin-Ming Ma, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Beijing. Synaptogenesis and spine plasticity in hippocampal neurons; estrogen hormones and synaptic plasticity; stress and neuronal plasticity.
• Richard Mains, Professor and Chair of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Harvard, 1973. Pituitary; neuronal tissue culture; peptides, vesicles; enzymes; drug abuse; development.
• Louise McCullough, Associate Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience; M.D., Ph.D., Connecticut. Effects of estrogens on stroke.
• D. Kent Morest, Professor of Neuroscience and Communication Sciences and Director of the Center for Neurological Sciences; M.D., Yale, 1960. Synaptic organization and fine structure of nervous system: plastic changes following activity changes; noise-induced hearing loss; development of synapses; tissue culture; neuronal transplantation.
• Douglas L. Oliver, Professor of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering; Ph.D., Duke, 1977. Synaptic organization; parallel information processing in CNS; role of ionic currents, channel expression in information processing; neurocytology, morphology, cellular physiology of CNS sensory systems; biology of hearing and deafness.
• Joel S. Pachter, Professor of Cell Biology; Ph.D., NYU, 1983. Mechanisms regulating pathogenesis of CNS infectious/inflammatory disease.
• David M. Waitzman, Associate Professor of Neurology; M.D./Ph.D., CUNY, Mount Sinai, 1982. Neurophysiology; oculomotor system; gaze control system; modeling of CNS.
• Zhaowen Wang, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Michigan State, 1993. Molecular mechanisms of synaptic transmission, focusing on neurotransmitter release and mechanisms of potassium channel localization, using C. elegans as a model organism.
• Ji Yu, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Developmental Biology; Ph.D., Texas, 2002. Optical imaging technology; regulatory mechanisms in dendritic RNA translation; cytoskeletal dynamics.
• Nada Zecevic, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience; M.D., 1970, Ph.D., 1978, Belgrade. Cellular and molecular aspects of CNS development; primate cerebral cortex; oligodendrocyte progenitors, stem cells, microglia; multiple sclerosis.

Correspondence and Information

University of Connecticut Health Center, E-4056
Dr. James Hewett, Neuroscience Program Director
Lori Capozzi, Neuroscience Graduate Program Coordinator
Farmington, Connecticut 06030-3401
Telephone: 860-679-2658
Fax: 860-679-8766
Email: capozzi@uchc.edu
World Wide Web: http://grad.uchc.edu/neuroscience/neuroscience_intro.html