Biomedical Alcohol Research Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Biomedical Alcohol Research Training Program will prepare young predoctoral PhD and combined MD/PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows with MD and/or PhD degrees for research careers on the biomedical consequences of alcohol consumption and abuse. Core Faculty will be primarily responsible for mentoring trainees and include 17 scientists from the School of Medicine at LSUHSC (12), School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine at Tulane University (1), Tulane National Primate Research Center (2), Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation (1), and the College of Pharmacy at Xavier University (1), a historically African American university, The Training Program also relies on 17 Support Faculty that are clinicians, veterinarians, and scientists to provide unique resources, specialized training and co-mentoring. Trainees will pursue alcohol research projects under three interrelated themes 1) Alcohol/HIV Disease, 2) Alcohol/Host Defense, 3) Alcohol/Neuroendocrine and Behavior. The Training Program is designed to develop in trainees research and technical skills that will allow them to advance knowledge by conducting hypotheses-driven mechanistic research on the effect of alcohol consumption and abuse on 1) the innate and specific immune system in the context of infection, 2) the transmission, pathogenesis, progression and treatment of simian Immunodeficiency virus disease in non-human primates, 3) HIV protein effects on host defense and heart function, 4) mechanisms of free radical production by liver including the P450 enzyme system and by cells of the host defense system, 5) learning/memory acquisition in the context of SIV disease and neurotransmitter control, 6) trauma induced alterations in neuroendocrine and cardiovascular function and 7) fetal development of brain synaptic connections. Trainee development will be enriched through didactic sessions that are designed to develop their knowledge base in the alcohol research field as well as their written and oral communication skills. By the third year of this funding cycle, 4 predoctoral students (PhD, MD/PhD) and 5 postdoctoral fellows (MD and/or PhD) will be in the Program. For postdoctoral fellows stringent emphasis will be placed on candidates who are committed to a minimum of two full time research training years, with 3 years preferred. Qualified minority and women candidates will be actively recruited, with special emphasis placed on recruitment of predoctoral minority students from Xavier University. The goal of the program is to provide mentorship and focused training so that young MD and PhD scientists can become familiar with the biomedical problems related to alcohol consumption and acquire the tools to do high quality, competitive research.