Problem-to-Product Team Entrepreneurship and Active Mentoring (P2P-TEAM) Graduate Training Program

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Project Summary Our proposed predoctoral training program “Problem-to-Product Team Entrepreneurship and Active Mentoring” (P2P-TEAM) embraces a team science approach to research training, with an emphasis on entrepreneurial skills and professional development. The program will train the next generation of students to flourish in scientifically diverse teams and embrace an entrepreneurial perspective that will benefit the many graduate students in STEM fields who transition into industrial careers, as well as those pursuing academic or government career paths. The program revolves around the formation of interdisciplinary teams, which serve as the nuclei for pursuing advanced research projects related to the overarching theme of theranostics, a new approach to personalized medicine combining targeted therapy and diagnosis. The program will engage students in team-based collaborative projects and encourage entrepreneurial efforts that build directly from translational impact (i.e., prospects for technology transfer and commercialization). The team-based collaboration model is designed to increase accountability, develop peer networks and support systems, and motivate students to see their individual research efforts in the context of solving bigger problems with potentially translational payoffs, while the emphasis on entrepreneurship is designed to foster innovation and develop an understanding of the business world and industry practices. The program is planned for two trainees in the first year, then a steady-state of five trainees in subsequent years. The duration of each appointment is 2 years. Key programmatic features of the P2P-TEAM program include (i) collaborative research, (ii) entrepreneurial training, and (iii) professional development. The training program has 5 overarching goals: (1) facilitate the development of interdisciplinary peer teams, (2) improve scientific communication, (3) encourage an entrepreneurial perspective and business acumen not typically fostered in traditional graduate programs, (4) develop project management skills, and (5) enhance professional training (soft skills). Specific activities include training in translation of research problems into products; participation in professional development, statistical informatics, and entrepreneurship courses; activities to build networking and scientific communication skills; creation of an annual prospectus; and engagement in industrial internships. Industrial mentors will provide insight into the business aspects related to assessment of technology development arising from the collaborative research projects. The frontier field of theranostics provides avenues for both basic and applied research projects, as well as natural translation to commercialization opportunities, making it an ideal focus of the proposed training program. Because of its interdisciplinary and translational research approach, our program will be an avenue for recruiting and retaining highly innovative graduate students from diverse backgrounds.