ADVANCING CHILD HEALTH THROUGH CELL/MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

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Advancing Child Health Through Cell/Molecular Biology is the overall theme of the University of Michigan's Child Health Research Center. The goal of this Center is to facilitate the career development of new pediatric physician scientists, thus sustaining a pool of accomplished pediatric investigators. This goal will be accomplished through superb mentorship of CHRC awardees by well established cell/molecular biologists in both the basic science and clinical departments at the U of Mich Medical Center whose interests and expertise fall within the three general foci of this Center: host defense, developmental biology, and cancer and studies of aberrant cell growth. Through the previous four and one-half years of funding, the U of Mich CHRC has supported 14 investigators through start- up funds and access to core facilities and equipment. Five of the previously supported awardees have subsequently received PSA/CIA (KO-8) Awards and four have received NIH support as independent investigators. The success of junior faculty previously supported by this grant is the foundation upon which our application for renewed funding is built. To continue the mentoring support offered through the CHRC, we have recruited 21 senior faculty from diverse departments and units throughout the University including the Departments of Biological Chemistry, Internal Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry, as well as the U of Mich Cancer Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition, the research interests of our mentors are represented by a number of programs such as the Organogenesis (Developmental Biology) Program, Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Multipurpose Arthritis Center, Mental Health Research Institute, Neuroscience Program, Microbial Pathogenesis Program, and the Center for Molecular Medicine. Junior faculty supported by the CHRC are pediatricians who received their subspecialty training at the U of Mich as well as highly qualified pediatricians trained in outstanding research laboratories outside of Michigan. The success of the awardees supported during the first funding cycle attests to the CHRC's strength in mentorship, interdepartmental collaboration, in collegiality, and in the awardee recruitment process. The support provided by this grant has significantly enhanced the Department's ability to increase the number and quality of well trained pediatric scientists.