Mentoring Translational Researchers for Careers in Pediatric Global Health

项目概要/摘要 医学院、住院医师项目和传染病申请者对全球健康的兴趣 近年来，奖学金有了巨大的增长，但翻译这一点的职业发展途径 对成功学术生涯的兴趣仍然不明确，而且危险，导师相对较少 在学术界可用。本次K24奖更新的候选人是儿科和医学教授 他已经建立了一个成功的研究和指导计划， 儿童疟疾和确定高疟疾儿童保护性免疫的体外相关性 地方性环境。这项研究计划是建立在与主要疟疾研究机构的密切合作关系的基础上的。 在乌干达工作的流行病学家和临床试验专家。私家侦探和她的合作者已经建立了一个有效的 多学科团队，并建立了大量的研究基础设施，在托罗罗进行实地研究， 乌干达，疟疾传播强度异常高。疟疾是导致儿童 乌干达的死亡，每年夺去全世界100万儿童的生命。需要一个有效 疟疾疫苗是不言而喻的。然而，疫苗开发、改进、 通过更好地理解免疫效应机制， 提供保护免受疟疾，以及免疫颠覆机制，可能会阻碍发展， 持久免疫力候选人已经建立了一个系统的方法来指导博士前 学生和早期职业临床研究人员从事以病人为导向的研究。几名学员 获得了NIH K奖的支持，有些人最近在领导学院担任独立教师职务， 研究机构指导将在候选人自己资助的研究计划的背景下提供， 这为学员发起的附加项目提供了许多机会。拟议的研究将使用 来自乌干达特征良好的儿科队列的样本和数据，以确定保护性相关因素 疟疾免疫力，并确定如何自然获得抗疟免疫力的改变， 化学预防干预和产前接触疟疾。此外，该奖项将解决 关于胎儿T细胞如何对子宫内遇到的病原体衍生抗原作出反应的基本问题。 这个K24的主要目标将是指导年轻的研究人员进行高技能的研究所需的技能。 高质量的转化免疫学研究，鼓励他们对以患者为导向的全球健康研究的热情， 并帮助他们成为成功的独立调查员。K24期间的具体指导重点 更新期将帮助学员获得生物信息学和基因组数据分析方面的技能， 对于新兴的高参数单细胞免疫分析方法（质谱细胞术、单细胞免疫分析）是必需的 RNA测序），并促进妇女的职业生涯，代表性不足的少数民族，以及来自 低资源国家成为成功的学术教员。

Project Summary/Abstract Interest in global health among applicants to medical schools, residency programs, and infectious disease fellowships has grown enormously in recent years, but the career development pathways for translating this interest into successful academic careers remain poorly defined and perilous, with relatively few mentors available in academia. The candidate for this K24 Award renewal is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine who has established a successful research and mentoring program to investigate the immune response to childhood malaria and identify in vitro correlates of protective immunity among children in highly malaria endemic settings. This research program is based upon strong collaborative relationships with leading malaria epidemiologists and clinical trialists working in Uganda. The PI and her collaborators have forged an effective multidisciplinary team and have built substantial research infrastructure to conduct field studies in Tororo, Uganda, a setting of exceptionally high malaria transmission intensity. Malaria is the leading cause of pediatric deaths in Uganda and claims the life of one million children worldwide each year. The need for an effective vaccine against malaria is self-evident. However, the iterative process of vaccine development, refinement, and testing would be greatly aided by a better understanding of the immunologic effector mechanisms that confer protection from malaria, as well as immune subversion mechanisms that may hinder the development of durable immunity. The candidate has established a systematic approach to mentoring both pre-doctoral students and early career clinician-investigators engaged in patient-oriented research. Several trainees have obtained NIH K Award support, and some have recently assumed independent faculty positions at leading research institutions. Mentoring will be provided in the context of the candidate's own funded research program, which provides numerous opportunities for add-on projects initiated by trainees. The proposed studies will use samples and data from well-characterized pediatric cohorts in Uganda to identify correlates of protective immunity to malaria, and to determine how the natural acquisition of antimalarial immunity is altered by chemopreventive interventions and by prenatal exposure to malaria. In addition, this award will address fundamental questions regarding how fetal T cells respond to pathogen-derived antigens encountered in utero. The primary goal of this K24 will be to mentor young investigators with the skills required to conduct high quality translational immunology research, encourage their passion for patient-oriented global health research, and help them to become successful independent investigators. Specific mentoring emphases during the K24 renewal period will be on helping trainees to acquire the skills in bioinformatics and genomic data analysis that are needed for emerging high-parameter single cell immune profiling approaches (mass cytometry, single cell RNA sequencing), and to foster the careers of women, under-represented minorities, and investigators from low-resource countries to become successful academic faculty members.