PROJECT SUMMARY Population projections made by the US Census Bureau indicate that ~20% of the population will be >65 years old by 2030; if correct, this demographic change will have a major impact on the economy and health of our nation. The mechanisms underlying normal and pathological human brain aging are still poorly understood, and safe and effective therapies have yet to be developed. Therefore, the primary aim of this T32 program is to provide students with basic, translational, and clinical research training in the Neuroscience of Aging, Neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's Disease. The proposed T32 will provide annual support for 5 predoctoral students and 3 postdoctoral fellows, and represent an educational cornerstone of the Healthy Aging Alliance at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) – an organization that involves basic and clinical researchers, health care providers, elderly representatives from the local community, as well as an educational cornerstone of Oregon Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (OADRC) and the OHSU Parkinson Center. Our program will provide trainees with a “bench-to-bedside” framework in which to conduct research and better prepare them for future research and clinical careers that focus on the development of safe and effective therapies for aging- related neurological disorders. Based on the experience of our 21-member faculty, who have previous trained 69 pre-doctoral students and 104 postdoctoral fellows in the last 10 years, we expect that a total of 12 PhD or PhD/MD students and 8 postdoctoral fellows will be trained during the proposed 5-year funding period. Importantly, our program is expected to make a significant contribution to a national effort ensuring that there will be a sufficient number of trained researchers available in the ensuing decades, with expertise in normal and pathological human aging. Importantly, our program does not duplicate any other training program at OHSU, and it is the only mechanism by which students can obtain comprehensive research training in the Neuroscience of Aging, Neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's Disease in the Pacific Northwest. The T32 training faculty bring an average of $990,772 in direct research funds as PI to OHSU each year, in support of basic, translational, and clinical aging/neurodegeneration research. The faculty have primary appointments within the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Engineering, the OADRC, the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences (OIOHS), the Vollum Institute, the Jungers Center for Neuroscience Research, and the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC). Thus, our program offers training using a broad spectrum of animal models, including invertebrates, rodents, and nonhuman primates, as well as humans. It also provides extensive Research Core support and access to a wide range of cutting-edge resources and methodologies. The breadth of the training will be further enhanced by requiring all of our trainees to attend ...