MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY TRAINING GRANT

描述(由申请者提供)：达拉斯的德克萨斯大学西南医学中心请求继续支持研究生和研究生分子微生物学培训计划(MMTP)。MMTP的一个特别吸引人的特点是它不同于传统的以项目或部门为基础的培训，而是一个跨学科的项目，在保持微生物学方向的同时，扩大培训任务的范围，包括分子和细胞生物学的许多其他方面。23名培训员的不同背景，包括一组有丰富记录的老牌研究人员和不断扩大的新教员，代表着分子和细胞微生物学这一共同主题所联系的跨学科研究项目。培训人员来自八个不同的医学院院系。总体目标是培训学生和博士后研究员在微生物发病的分子基础、细胞微生物学、宿主防御机制、疫苗开发和结构生物学方面的研究生涯。MMTP申请资助6名博士后(博士或医学博士/博士)。3个博士后职位(博士或医学博士)每年。一般来说，攻读博士学位的活动包括(1)通过定制的、灵活的培训轨道进行课程工作，(2)出席和参加研讨会和期刊俱乐部，(3)笔试资格考试成绩，(4)每年参加MMTP研究论坛，以及(5)以博士论文答辩为最终目的的密集研究培训。博士后研究员(博士或医学博士)将有机会巩固基本技能，培养科学思维和研究规划的独立性，并学习基本科学研究或技术的新领域。研究员还将参与教授研究生、举办期刊俱乐部和研究研讨会，并为推动科学进步的普遍“发酵”做出贡献。我们期望完成这一课程的学员能够熟练地将微生物学、生物化学、分子遗传学、基因阵列、生物信息学、结构生物学、细胞生物学和免疫学的当代方法应用于微生物学科学中的重要问题，并改进预防和治疗干预策略。MMTP目前只有四年的历史，但已经有证据表明它取得了实质性的成功。招募任职人数不足的少数群体的特别努力已经取得成功，将继续下去。德克萨斯大学西南医学中心提供了一个出色的研究环境，可以在其中继续这一进步的、当代的分子微生物学培训计划。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): U.T. Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas requests continued support for a graduate and post-graduate Molecular Microbiology Training Program (MMTP). A particularly attractive feature of this MMTP is its departure from conventional program- or departmental-based training to an interdisciplinary program that maintains a microbiology orientation while, at the same time, broadens the scope of the training mission to include many other aspects of molecular and cell biology. 'The diverse backgrounds of the 23 trainers, comprised of a core group of established investigators with accomplished records and an expanding new faculty, represent interdisciplinary research programs bound by the common theme of molecular and cellular microbiology. The training faculty emanate from eight different medical school departments. The overall objective is to train students and postdoctoral fellows for research careers in the molecular basis of microbial pathogenesis, cellular microbiology, host defense mechanisms, vaccine development, and structural biology. The MMTP requests funding for 6 pre-doctoral (Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.) and 3 post-doctoral positions (Ph.D. or M.D.) each year. In general, activities towards the Ph.D. degree include (1) course work via a customized, flexible training track, (2) attendance and participation in seminars and journal clubs, (3) achievement on written qualifying examinations, (4) annual attendance at a MMTP Research Forum, and (5) intensive research training culminating in the defense of a doctoral dissertation. Post-doctoral fellows (Ph.D. or M.D.) will be provided the opportunity to consolidate basic skills, develop independence in scientific thinking and research planning, and learn new areas of basic scientific inquiry or technology. Fellows also will be involved in teaching graduate students, presenting journal clubs and research seminars, and contributing to the general "ferment" that drives scientific progress. We expect trainees who complete this program to become skilled in applying contemporary approaches in microbiology, biochemistry, molecular genetics, gene arrays, bioinformatics, structural biology, cell biology, and immunology to important problems in the microbiological sciences and to the improvement of preventive and therapeutic intervention strategies. The MMTP currently is only four years old, but there already is evidence of substantial success. Special efforts for the recruitment of under-represented minorities, which already have been successful, will continue. U.T. Southwestern Medical Center offers an outstanding research environment in which to continue this progressive, contemporary training program in molecular microbiology.