Postdoctoral Training

Training Program Resources

Major Contibuting Centers and Departments at UNC

The Neuroscience Center is a multidisciplinary Center focusing on neural development, physiology, and disease. The Center is located in a new state-of-the-art facility named The Neuroscience Research Building. The faculty and staff occupy approximately 10,500 square feet of research and lab space and approximately 1,000 square feet of administrative space. UNCNC faculty members have their primary appointments in the Departments of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cell and Molecular Physiology, Biochemistry and Neurology. Resources from these departments are briefly reviewed below.

The Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics is housed on three floors on the UNC campus. The department occupies approximately 33,000 square feet of research laboratory space and 3,075 of non-research space used for administrative purposes. The Department of Biochemistry also supports the following core facilities: Macromolecular Interactions, Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy, X-Ray Crystallography, and Structural Bioinformatics.

The Department of Cell & Developmental Biology occupies 29,000 square feet of research and office space in addition to teaching space in Taylor Hall. Instrumentation for modern cell and molecular biological research is widely available in the department (including, electron microscopy, tissue culture and electrophysiology).

The Department of Cell & Molecular Physiology occupies four floors of the Medical Sciences Research Building in the Health Affairs complex. Faculty laboratories are equipped for research and training in all methods of biological research, including biophysics, molecular biology, biochemistry, immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy, and whole-animal studies.

The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to generating and sharing knowledge to improve the well-being of children and families. The center has 44 Ph.D.-level investigators, 20 faculty members affiliated with various schools across the UNC-CH campus, and a supporting staff of more than 200 employees. The center currently has approximately 60 funded projects with direct costs of more that $20,000,000 per year. The center is housed in three locations with approximately 75,000 square feet of space. The center provides six core units to support the work of the various projects: (1) Data Management and Statistical Analysis Core; (2) Behavioral Measurement Core (NDRC Core); (3) Publications and Dissemination Core; (4) Business Office; (5) Family and Child Care Program; and (6) Computer Support Core.

The Department of Psychiatry currently occupies 9,500 square feet of research space and is the location of the NIMH funded Conte Schizophrenia, as well as the UNC Medical Imaging Laboratory (including 650 sq. ft. of space with a new UNIX client-server computer system, numerous computer workstations, compatibility with the UNC-Duke Brain Imaging and Analysis Center for transfer of data); and the Developmental Neuropsychiatry Clinic.

Division TEACCH, in the UNC Department of Psychiatry, is a state-funded, internationally recognized service delivery program for autism. Nine clinics (including the Chapel Hill Clinic, along with its administration and research offices) around the state of North Carolina provide free care to autistic individuals, employing a specific psychosocial treatment model developed by TEACCH. In November 2000, the Chapel Hill TEACCH Program will occupy 13,000 sq ft. of space with the NDRC Autism Research Program, 2 miles south of the UNC-CH campus.

Additional Resources for Research and Training

The Center for Development and Learning (CDL) is the UNC "University Affiliated Program" for clinical training and care of developmentally disordered individuals. Over 40 staff members representing a variety of disciplines evaluate over 2,000 patients annually through a variety of programs and clinics.

The Center for Developmental Science, funded by NIMH in 1994, is a consortium of researchers from a number of North Carolina Universities, aimed at providing advanced research training in human development in the areas of social and behavioral sciences, education and health-related areas.

General Clinical Research Center. The Verne S. Caviness Clinical Research Center is a 13,5000 sq ft inpatient-outpatient research facility funded by a $3 million per year General Clinical Research Center Grant from the for the support of clinical research on the UNC campus.

The UNC-Duke Brain Imaging and Analysis Center occupies 10,000 sq ft at Duke University Medical Center and houses two (1.5 Tesla and 4.0 Tesla) research-dedicated GE whole-body MRI systems capable of high speed, high resolution echoplanar imaging. The magnets are connected to computer facilities on the Duke campus by a high-speed network connection.