TRAINING GRANT ON THE BIOLOGY OF AGING

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The proposed program represents a 5-year continuation of an institutional training grant in the biology of aging, which was consolidated in 2003 from two departmental training grants. We request funds to support 10 predoctoral and 6 postdoctoral trainees. The impending avalanche of elderly in the US combined with major recent advances in understanding fundamental mechanisms of aging has created a substantial demand for researchers trained to investigate means of delaying and relieving the ailments of an aging population. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is a premier research institution in the biology of aging, currently receiving more research funding from the Biology of Aging Program of the National Institute on Aging (NIA)than any other stand-alone medical institution. The primary goal of the proposed Training Program is to intellectually prepare both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for careers as leaders in basic biological research in aging. The Training Program involves 25 faculty members (14 men, 11 women) and takes advantage of the synergies created by intensely collaborative personnel, the unique resources available from our Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging and the institutional commitment to, and expanding resources of, the Barshop Institute itself. Trainees will be chosen competitively based on academic excellence, their interest in aging research, and motivation for careers in research. The main activity of each trainee is the development of their faculty-supervised research project, which because of the extent of collaboration among our faculty tends to result surprisingly often in team mentorships. Another key component is to require broad knowledge in the biology of aging acquired in our two biology of aging courses such that trainees'can place their research in an appropriate scientific context. In addition to this formal didactic training, we require trainees to attend the weekly Aging Research Journal Club and the Barshop Institute seminar series. Our program also emphasizes training in scientific communication with multiple venues for trainees to hone skills in both written and oral presentation. The timing of the proposed Training Program is propitious in that it will span the transition of our graduate student program from its current status as a Special Biology of Aging Track within the Department of Cellular & Structural Biology to its future status as an independent graduate program - the nation's first Ph.D.program in the Biology of Aging. That transition process has already been initiated and will be completed during the proposed funding period.