An innovative post-graduate training program to build HIV-TB coinfection research

描述（由申请人提供）：夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省（KZN）是南非人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）和结核病（TB）共同流行的中心。KZN估计有120万艾滋病毒阳性个体，产前艾滋病毒流行率为37.4%，结核病通报率为每10万人12,900人。此外，70- 80%的结核病病例感染了艾滋病毒。南非，尤其是KZN，也缺乏训练有素的专家（包括临床医生和研究人员）来解决这两个问题。该提案的最终目的是为D71规划赠款获得资金，以落实准备和提交D43奖项所需的组成部分，该奖项将用于在南非德班的夸祖鲁-纳塔尔大学（UKZN）建立和扩展艾滋病毒-结核病合并感染研究和培训计划，培养新一代非洲科学家，并在非洲建立一个基地，容纳非洲和其他全球艾滋病毒-结核病合并感染专家。与夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省结核病和艾滋病毒研究所（K-RITH）以及UKZN专注于艾滋病毒和结核病研究的其他部门合作，我们建议特别关注研究生教育，并建立在我们目前在免疫学，病毒学和微生物学方面的专业知识。我们还希望将我们的专业知识扩展到新的和尚未研究的领域，包括生物信息学，基因组学，蛋白质组学，脂质组学和小鼠模型。研究人员将不会孤立地工作，而是将采取多学科培训和研究方法来解决该地区面临的巨大公共卫生问题。该网站将拥有终极的“教育和培训计划”，为研究生（荣誉级到博士后科学家）提供以个人为中心的培训方法，重点是培养独立和批判性思维，持续评估和指导，以及高质量的职业支持和建议。这将在一定程度上延伸和扩展，以支持初级教师水平的个人（即那些在成为独立研究者的道路上的人）。我们的目标是发现有动力和潜力的学生，并通过系统支持他们，同时提供职业指导，以便在他们的培训结束时，他们为成为具有全球竞争力的科学家做好充分准备，并充分认识到未来的机会。我们的目标是让这些学生成为我们项目中的科学家，培养未来几代非洲科学家，并具备领导技能，在所有领域从事和解决重大的艾滋病-结核病研究挑战，但特别侧重于基础研究。UKZN的目标是成为一个合作中心——最终的“全球”目的地，培训HIV-TB并参与解决关键的研究挑战。这个应用程序的规划包括与员工和学生面对面的会议，以及确定当前差距和未来目标的头脑风暴会议。我们的应用程序解决了南非政府的两个主要目标：首先，通过促进急需的对破坏该地区的两种病原体（艾滋病毒和结核病）的共同感染研究；第二，把重点放在建立和发展高质量的研究生队伍上，使他们能够在国际层面上竞争，成为非洲和全球科学领袖的下一代。UKZN的愿景是成为非洲领导的奖学金的一流大学！

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is the epicenter of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) co-epidemic in South Africa. KZN has an estimated 1.2 million HIV positive individuals, an antenatal HIV prevalence of 37.4%, and a TB notification rate of 12,900/100,000 population. In addition, 70- 80% of TB cases are HIV infected. South Africa, and KZN in particular, also has a paucity of highly trained experts (both clinicians and researchers) to tackle these twin problems. The ultimate aim of this proposal is to obtain funding for the D71 Planning Grant to put in place the components necessary to prepare and submit a D43 award, which would be used to build and extend the HIV-TB coinfection research and training program at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa, foster a new generation of African scientists, and build a site in Africa tha houses African and other scientists who are global experts in HIV-TB coinfection. Partnering with the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), and other departments at UKZN that focus on HIV and TB research, we propose to specifically focus on post- graduate education and build on our current expertise in immunology, virology, and microbiology. We also hope to extend our expertise into new and understudied areas including bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, lipidomics and mouse models. Researchers will not work alone in silos but instead will take multidisciplinary training and research approaches to tackle the huge public health problem facing this region. This site will have the ultimate 'Education and Training Program' offering post-graduate students (honours-level to post-doctoral scientist) an individual-centric training approach focusing on the development of independent and critical thinking, ongoing assessment and mentorship, and high-quality career support and advice. This will extend and expand in part to support individuals at the Junior Faculty Level (i.e. those on the pathway to becoming independent investigators). We aim to identify students with drive and potential and support them through the system, while at the same time providing career guidance so that at the end of their training, they are adequately prepared to become globally competitive scientists and well aware of what future opportunities exist. We aim for these students to become the scientists in our program that train the future generations of African scientists, and to have the leadership skills to work on and solve major HIV-TB research challenges in all areas, but specifically focusing on basic research. UKZN aims to be a collaborative center- the ultimate 'global' destination to train in HIV-TB and participate in tacklng the key research challenges. Planning for this application involved face-to-face meetings with staff and students, in addition to brainstorming sessions to identify current gaps and future goals. Our application tackles two of the main goals of the South African Government: firstly, by promoting much-needed coinfection research on two pathogens (HIV and TB) that have devastated the region; and secondly, by focusing on building and developing a high-quality pool of post- graduate students that will be able to compete at the international level and become the future generations of African and global scientific leaders. UKZN's vision is to be the premier university of African-led scholarship!