Molecular and Cellular Biology at Dartmouth

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The goals of the proposed training program are to recruit and train outstanding graduate students and to prepare them for productive careers in science. The trainers in the "Molecular and Cellular Biology at Dartmouth" Training Program (MCBD) include 53 of the 69 faculty in Dartmouth's largest life science graduate program, the Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) Graduate Program. The MCB Graduate Program is an interdepartmental, interdisciplinary program with 137 students. Research areas include biotechnology, cell biology, computational biology, developmental biology, immunology, molecular pathogenesis, neurobiology, regulation of gene expression, signal transduction and cellular metabolism, and structural biology. MCB Graduate Program students and faculty come from nine departments at Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Medical School, and the Thayer School of Engineering. Many faculty in the MCB Graduate Program have long and established training records. The MCBD Training Program faculty was selected based on the strength of their research programs, their commitment to training predoctoral students, and their willingness to participate in the various activities of the MCB Graduate Program. Trainees must satisfy the MCB Graduate Program requirements for the Ph.D., which include three research rotations, a three-term core course, three elective courses, one term of teaching, participation in journal clubs and seminars, training in the responsible conduct of research, a qualifying exam, a yearly Research in Progress presentation, and a thesis defense. The MCB Graduate Program regularly matriculates approximately 25-30 students per year. New efforts to recruit underrepresented minority (URM) students, that include a highly successful Department of Defense-funded Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURF), were implemented during the current funding period. As a result of these efforts the number of URM students in the MCB Graduate Program increased from one to four, and will further double upon matriculation of the Fall 2007 class. Training the next generation of scientists is essential for maintaining and improving the economy of our country and the health of its citizens. Funds from this program will be used to support young scientists during their training, and to help prepare the next generation of scientists and teachers for productive careers.