INP comprises faculty from 6 UCI academic departments, located within the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine. This integrated group works together to coordinate training in the classroom and laboratory to first year graduate students in the INP . They also serve as advisors to aid students with course and rotation choices, as well as decisions concerning dissertation work.
Once a student has successfully completed the INP, they transition to the graduate department of their chosen mentor.
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine: Focuses on exploring fundamental issues in the structure and function of the nervous system, particularly its development and response to injury. Emphasis is placed on cellular, molecular, and systems based approaches to this study.
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences: Focuses on molecular biology and genetics to investigate embryonic development, regeneration and fundamental cell biology. The research employs a variety of model organisms, including yeast, plants, hydra, flies, fish, frogs, salamanders and mice.
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences: The research interests of faculty in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry include structure and synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins, regulation, virology, biochemical genetics, gene organization, nucleic acids and proteins, cell and developmental biology, molecular genetics, biomedical genetics and immunology.
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, School of Biological Sciences: Employs a combination of approaches to study the nervous system including molecular biology, neurophysiology, biochemistry, anatomy, and behavior. Faculty study both human and animal models. Particular attention is paid to learning and memory, aging and dementia, and neural repair and regeneration.
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine: Explores how molecules affect living things. Emphasis is placed on providing an integrated understanding of drug receptors; molecular aspects of drug action; receptor signaling mechanisms; structure-activity relationships and drug design; the role of receptors and drugs in development and aging, plasticity, reinforcement and drug abuse, neural disorders, and cardiovascular physiology and disease.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine: The Faculty of the Department participate in a wide spectrum of research activities. Departmental research falls between the entirely medical and the entirely molecular, and its objective is to understand how proteins function in catalyzing metabolically important reactions in cells, how signals such as those carried by hormones are transmitted from one cell to another, and how specialized cells such as muscle fibers perform their intended functions