# UCLA Training Program in the Translational Neuroscience of Drug Addiction (TNDA)

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2024 · $529,198

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This application seeks support for a pre- and postdoctoral training program in the Translational Neuroscience of
Drug Addiction (TNDA) at UCLA (requesting four predoctoral and four postdoctoral fellow positions). The TNDA
draws faculty and trainees from 5 primary UCLA departments, overlapping in their training and research
missions: the Depts of Psychology and Integrative Biology & Physiology within the Division of Life Sciences, the
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Depts of Physiology and Neurobiology within the David
Geffen School of Medicine, and the cross-campus Brain Research Institute (BRI). Each of these organizational
academic units supports world-class research programs that are well-funded and resourced. TNDA predoctoral
students are drawn from 3 degree-granting programs: the graduate programs in Psychology, the Neuroscience
Interdepartmental Program administered by the BRI, and the Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology
Interdepartmental Program administered by the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology. The TNDA has
six aims. 1) To contribute meaningfully to developing of a diverse next generation of addiction neuroscientists.
We recruit and enroll highly qualified candidates who are committed to translational research in drug addiction,
including vigorously recruiting from underrepresented populations. 2) To provide hands-on experience at all
stages of addiction research, including evidence-based hypothesis formation, experimental design, data
acquisition and analyses, and preparing findings for oral and written presentation. 3) To ensure that trainees
develop expertise in a specific research area and technology, while providing opportunities for trainees to acquire
the breadth of knowledge needed to conduct translational addiction research. 4) To provide the resources,
opportunities, and training to enable trainees to gather preliminary data, generate novel hypotheses and specific
aims for NIH grant proposals, enabling success in securing independent funding. 5) To provide trainees a
foundation of ethical conduct in biomedical research and transparent and open data science practices. 6) To
provide career guidance so that trainees can successfully identify and secure professional positions. Accordingly,
TNDA provides comprehensive interdisciplinary training through formal education and supervised research. The
participating mentors have active research programs at all levels of analysis ─ from cell and molecular biology
to systems and behavioral neuroscience to cognitive and clinical neuroscience. TNDA mentors agree to
participate in multiple aspects of the program and their trainees with ample mentorship and laboratory resources.
TNDA trainees have a primary project in a specific mentor's laboratory, but gain exposure to other areas of
research through laboratory rotations, common core training, as well as by formal and informal interaction among
TNDA faculty and leadership,...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10849525
- **Project number:** 2T32DA024635-16
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** LARA A. RAY
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $529,198
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2008-07-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10849525

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10849525, UCLA Training Program in the Translational Neuroscience of Drug Addiction (TNDA) (2T32DA024635-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10849525. Licensed CC0.

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