UCI Multidisciplinary Exercise Sciences Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There continues to be growing recognition that exercise and inactivity play important roles in many disease processes. The goal of this training grant proposal is to establish a strong and rich research training environment for M.D.s and Ph.D.s interested in exercise science. The underlying programmatic theme of the training program is "integrative/translational" science. The program consists of three core groups: the Molecular Physiology, Core Group, the Svstems Physiology Core Group, and the Clinical Applications Core Group. The emphasis of these cores is in skeletal muscle, cardiovascular and respiratory physiology, neurobiology of activity, rehabilitation, and metabolism given that these areas of research represent the focus of the Program Faculty, and represent areas of extensive on-going interactions. An integrated/translational approach is especially important in exercise science because of the profound role that physical activity is now known to play in human health. Postdoctoral fellows will interact with the faculty and other trainees through a formal didactic program, seminars, journal clubs, and research-in-progress discussions. At the beginning of the program each fellow will work with the Executive Committee to select a primary and secondary research emphasis designed to reflect an appropriate diversity of topics in exercise science. These emphases will be selected from the basic science cores. Trainees will become familiar with animal and cell model systems and state-of-the-art approaches to human performance testing, thereby facilitating the translation from these systems to human research and, ultimately to clinical applications. For this latter objective, the Human Performance Laboratory at the U.C. Irvine GCRC will play an important role as it is funded specifically to support translational research in an environment that optimizes the safety and quality of human investigation. Additionally, we have developed an innovative Clinical Applications Core that will significantly enhance the translational theme of this training grant. This proposed training program is designed to introduce postdoctoral trainees to new disciplines as they continue to hone skills and approaches mastered in the predoctoral years. For postdoctoral M.D.s, the program will attract individuals seriously interested in becoming independent investigators. Exercise physiology is not a separate ACGME-recognized specialty or subspecialty; consequently, M.D.s pursuing postdoctoral training in this program must be committed to academic careers. For Ph.D.s, the program will be best suited for basic scientists who see their academic careers involving clinical interaction either through direct human research or as members of faculties of medical schools where translational research activity is likely to be encouraged.