Core DResearch Experience Training Coordination (RETCC)

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The goal of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)-Research Experience and Training Coordination Core (UAB-RETCC) is to provide multi- and trans-disciplinary training in environmental health sciences in a nurturing, stimulating and collaborative environment. The program will support 2-3 years of structured and rigorous research training for graduate students enrolled in the UAB Graduate Biomedical Sciences (GBS; PhD candidates) and postdoctoral fellows (MD, PhD, or combined MD, PhD). The multidisciplinary nature of the proposed training is fostered by the diversity of 24 faculty mentors who hold primary appointments in the Schools of Medicine, Engineering, Public Health and the College of Arts and Sciences, and are members of UAB University-Wide Interdisciplinary Research Centers (UWIRCs). In concert with the Research Projects, the training core will support both graduate students and postdoctoral trainees (~2:1 ratio over the duration of the RETCC) in each year of this program. We propose an incremental increase in trainee slots: 3, 4, 5, 6, and 6 in years 1 through 5, respectively. The faculty mentors have been grouped into four thematic areas based on scientific expertise: (1) environmental health and lung disease; (2) environmental science and engineering; (3) minority health and health disparities; and (4) social sciences and study design. Multi- and transdisciplinary structure of the training will be facilitated by co-mentoring of all trainees by faculty selected from different thematic groups. The UAB-RETCC will allow students/trainees rigorous education and training in lung cellular and molecular biology, physiology, and disease pathogenesis with an emphasis on chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), asthma, and pulmonary infections. Environmental and engineering research experiences will provide trainees with skills and expertise in toxicology, gas/metal sensing technology, mass spectrometry, and remediation/mitigation. In addition to the research projects that will be conducted in the mentors’ laboratories, training will encompass a highly structured didactic program that includes (1) a “survival skills” curriculum in collaboration with the UAB Office of Postdoctoral Education and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, (2) a research core curriculum in collaboration with the Deep South Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center, (3) training in minority health/disparities concerns in collaboration with the Comprehensive Minority and Health Disparities Research Center and (4) study design in collaboration with epidemiologists and environmental health scientists at the UAB School of Public Health. Strong emphasis will be placed on the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities. Formal instruction will include study design including environmental health sciences courses at the School of Public Health. By completion of the training program, trainees will be prepared to assemble, launch and lead research projects focused on chronic obstructive lung disease, asthma, pulmonary infections, and environmental and engineering.