Postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students to increase their knowledge of demography and genetics in one of the first programs of its kind

杰森Boardman has made headlines studying the interactions between people’s genes and their environment, 发现, 例如, 那 在建立友谊方面，社会因素胜过遗传因素.

现在, the 博彩平台推荐 sociologist is helping to launch an advanced training program, 这是国内最早的一个, 培养这一跨学科领域的青年学者.

美国国家老龄研究所授予博德曼教授荣誉, 博彩平台推荐行为科学研究所(IBS), and Professor Michael Stallings from CU Boulder’s Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG), $595,超过三年, 在该地区建立正式的培训项目.

Boardman was a tenure-track assistant professor in sociology at the 博彩平台推荐 in 2005 when he decided to expand his research in social demography, 或者对人口的统计研究, 包括行为和统计遗传学.

“Essentially, I had to take graduate level studies in these areas,博德曼说. “I didn’t have much of a background in many of those fields, so I was raising my hand a lot.”

Boardman decided to look at the intersection and interaction between social factors — such as where one lives or works or whom one socializes with — and genetic factors as both influence complex health behaviors, 比如吸烟. 他就这一主题发表了大量文章, 从明年开始, like-minded post- and pre-doctoral students will be able to as well in the new training program.

Boardman’s genetic research has previously been supported by a five-year award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 在美国国立卫生研究院. This grant allowed Boardman to maintain his position as a faculty member but spend nearly half of his time studying genetics with researchers at IBG.

IBS和IBG的领导都对该奖项表示欢迎:

“This is a tangible vote of support at the national level for the successful collaboration between IBS and IBG,约翰·K. IBG董事休伊特说. “It reaffirms the value of our efforts to develop innovative interdisciplinary graduate and postdoctoral training programs.”

"This new grant demonstrates the leadership 那 Jason has achieved in connecting social and behavioral science with a deep understanding of genetics, something 那 draws on the outstanding expertise of the two institutes and amplifies our ability to train the next generation of researchers,Myron P. IBS的主管Gutmann补充道.

Demography and genetics postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students will be annually funded by the grant over three years to increase their respective knowledge of demography and genetics —demographers will study behavioral genetics, 行为遗传学家将研究人口统计学.

3名博士后研究员, 其中两人得到了NIH的支持, 最近在这两个研究机构采取了类似的做法吗, 并且都参与了创新的研究项目, 从而获得一流大学的终身职位.

Benjamin Domingue is now an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. 在博德曼做博士后研究员期间, 他得到了若干供资机制的特别支助. The goal of this new program at CU Boulder is to replicate the training 那 Domingue received but in a more formal manner.

布鲁克Huibregtse, 第一个进入培养计划的博士后研究员, said she is excited about the opportunity to integrate new approaches with her formal training in psychology.

“Investigating genetic risk factors is only one side of the coin; it is important to also consider the social context in which complex health behaviors develop,”她说。.

While there are now numerous research articles expanding on the study of the interaction between genes and environment, 目前还没有一个永久性的培训项目, 据博德曼说. 审稿人注意到IBS和IBG的研究强度, 以及丹佛大学的研究人员, 是决定在科罗拉多大学开设这样一个项目的一个重要因素吗.

“This is an important indication 那 reviewers and NIH see this as the place to go to receive this very unique training,博德曼说. “This training program will enable the next generation of scholars to tackle complex public-health issues such as increasing rates of obesity, 应激敏感性的个体差异, and complex and comorbid substance-use disorders with innovative and cutting-edge approaches.”

根据提案, IBS faculty members have expertise in areas 那 could not easily be duplicated by other research institutes, including the intersection of people’s genetics and their environment and its role in health outcomes, 非洲艾滋病毒/艾滋病模式与青少年健康发展.

“IBG has an incredibly strong and international reputation in research on genetic factors linked to different behaviors across the life course,博德曼说. IBG “hosts annual workshops on twin modeling and advanced statistical genetics 那 are among the most popular courses on this topic in the country. 事实上, 在对IBG进行全面的外部评估后, 一位评论者评论说IBG是, ‘a world leader 那 is unique in its extensive combination of human and animal model research studies of human behavioral variation.’”

Boardman said faculty members are still determining whether to offer an academic certificate for the program. 与此同时, the interaction between IBS and IBG researchers continues to lead to interesting studies, 包括IBG的汤姆·约翰逊等“湿实验室”科学家, 谁用蠕虫和老鼠研究分子行为遗传学.

“It’s amazing what comes up when we’re all together talking about this,博德曼说.