This is a new application for a T32 NIDA Clinical Scientist Research Training Program to provide trainees with didactic and hands-on laboratory research training in experimental pharmacology, psychopharmacology, clinical pharmacology, neuroimaging and neurophysiology as they relate to the study of addiction. Trainees will be predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows who will receive their training and mentored research experience at the interdepartmental, interschool and interdisciplinary Center for Neural Science (CNS) and the Interdisciplinary Research Center on Ethanol Effects (IRCE) at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (UCSOM). The Center for Neural Science is a premier facility and the home for innovative research training and investigation. This is a unique resource that includes an interdisciplinary mix of mentors with expertise in neuropsychopharmacology, neuroimaging, neuropsychology, neurophysiology and neurobiology. The Center for Neural Science has its own clinical research unit (CRU) that is one of the largest fMRI labs in the country, housing several cutting-edge research programs, including research into the functional and structural neuroanatomy of psychopathology and drug abuse, drug development and treatment, and the development of fMRI paradigms for substance abusing populations. Two clinical training programs at the UCSOM are housed in this CRU, including the Addiction Psychiatry Training Program (APTP) and the Neuroscience and Addiction Research Training Program (NARTP). The APTP includes fellows from the following programs: Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Neurology, Radiology, Anesthesiology, Biomedical Engineering, and the BS/MD program. The NARTP includes fellows from the following programs: Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Neurology, Radiology, Anesthesiology and Pharmacology. Trainees in these fellowships develop research skills through a mentored research project in which fellows work under the close supervision of a mentorship team comprised of both basic science and clinical mentors. The goal of this NIDA Training Program is to prepare trainees for research careers in the study of the mechanisms and treatment of substance abuse through training that combines both didactic coursework in the theory and practice of science with the development of research methodology and skills in either basic or applied neuroscience. This approach allows trainees to emerge from their didactic program as well-informed, skilled scientists and to develop the professional networks necessary for a successful academic career. This approach also helps to fill the "human resources" gap, especially for post-doctoral fellows, who typically lack formal didactic education in experimental pharmacology and neuroscience, yet are highly relevant to future advances in neuroscience. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This application requests continued funding for a program to train postdoctoral and predoctoral fellows to be independent, funded researchers in the field of substance abuse research. A long-term goal of this application is to train scientists who will develop, test and implement new treatments for addiction and related neuropsychiatric disorders. This NIDA training program fulfills the mission of this agency to promote the development of scientists in the fields of alcoholism and drug abuse and provides a mechanism to develop the next generation of scientists and to train them to pursue research in this understudied area.