Pilot/Feasibility (P/F) Program
The P/F Program will :

  • identify and assist new researchers in the computational DA field
  • support the development of new projects using CDAR resources
  • enable broad distribution and use of CDAR technologies
  • be a potential reservoir for future FRP projects

The P/F Program is targeted towards:

  • younger-stage drug abuse investigators who want to employ computational approaches in their new research
  • clinical investigators who want to add computational approaches to their ongoing research.

Enrichment Activities for Training and Education
CDAR Seminars

  • 4 per year (2 per semester), incorporated into existing seminar series
  • CDAR trainees will be able to interact with DAR field leaders Journal Clubs

Journal Clubs

  • Weekly literature review presentations within each Core
  • Additional events with FRP investigators
  • Presentation opportunity for students, trainees, & postdocs

Monthly Joint Lab Meetings

  • Core PIs and FRP Investigators
  • Cores and associated FRPs will rotate presentations
  • Presentation opportunity for students, trainees, & postdocs

Fellows Training Workshop

  • 5 day summer workshop
  • ~20 attendees (postdocs, research associates, new faculty with basic quantitative background & neurobiology research experience)
  • Possible topics include…
    “Computational Chemogenomics knowledgebase and computations for mining polydrug addiction” “New Quantitative Systems Pharmacology tools for identifying targets and pathways of neurological disorders”
    “Quantitative methods and tools for translating genotype to phenotype”

Outreach to students in existing training programs:

  • Interdisciplinary Training in Computational Neurosciences (R90DA023426, Dr. Kass, CMU)
  • Program in the Neurobiology of Substance Use and Abuse (T32DA031111, Dr Bradberry, Pitt)
  • Joint Computational/Experimental Biomed Summer res Program for Undergraduate (R25DA032519, Dr Madura, Duquesne)
  • PhD Program in Genomics, Proteomics and Drug Discovery (GPDD, Pitt)
  • CMU/Pitt PhD Program in Computational Biology (CPCB, Pitt/CMU)
  • PhD Program in Biomedical Informatics (Pitt)
  • Training and Experimentation in Computational Biology (TECBio) REU @ Pitt
  • Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology (MBSB, Pitt/CMU)