Welcome
The vision of the TNP program at WSU is to inspire a new generation of biomedical investigators highly-trained in interdisciplinary science that focuses on improving the health and care of individuals affected by psychiatric or neurological disorders, or injuries in the nervous system through an understanding of disease mechanisms.
Our mission begins with a program that is inherently interdisciplinary with faculty mentors specialized in basic, translational and clinical neuroscience. Students from diverse undergraduate backgrounds are exposed to a comprehensive and integrated bio-behavioral didactic curriculum. This includes courses in basic cellular, molecular and systems neurobiology, behavior and cognition, and neuroimaging.
The program offers access to world-class neuroimaging facilities for both animal and human research, and highly-experienced scientists with expertise in brain disorders, diseases and injuries, pre-clinical animal research, transgenic and knockout models, substance abuse, neuropharmacological treatments, brain network and computational modeling, and brain development and aging.
The TNP program is fully committed in training basic and clinical neuroscientists who will be driving innovations that impact public health.
About Translational Neuroscience
Neuroscience is among the most rapidly developing branches of medicine and biology.
The last decade has brought an amazingly rapid accumulation of information concerning all aspects of neuroscience, especially as it pertains to neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disciplines. Advances in basic neurosciences have been impressive, fueled by the spirit of research that marked the 'Decade of the Brain' during the 1990s.
Promising applications of this expanding knowledge are only slowly being realized. Previously, biological markers for psychiatric or cognitive disorders have been misleading due to limitations, including the inability to study the functioning human brain directly. There are few objective diagnostic markers despite the availability of pharmacological agents and other therapeutic procedures that effectively control symptoms of some of these debilitating and common disorders.
Considering the gap between clinical and basic neuroscience, there is an unprecedented need to develop investigators who are capable of bridging the basic-clinical neuroscience divide in the burgeoning field of translational neuroscience.
Translational Neuroscience is defined as:
- Experimental non-human and non-clinical (basic science) studies conducted with the specific intent to discover mechanisms, biomarkers, pathogenesis or treatments of nervous system disorders; and
- Clinical studies that provide a foundation for developing, or that directly test, novel therapeutic strategies for humans with nervous system disorders.
Helpful Links
News
- Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES) awards NTRD research team funding for pilot projects on smoking and vaping cannabis
- Clinical trial led by Wayne State Professor Mark Greenwald, Ph.D., proves neurostimulation device to treat opioid use disorder is effective
- WSU School of Medicine remains key to NIH-funded research in Michigan
- Dr. Seth Norrholm, was invited to speak at a round table discussion with U.S. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin on Veterans suicide prevention in Lansing