Advanced Training in Environmental Health Sciences

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PROJECT SUMMARY This is the competing renewal application for a highly successful T32 program that has trained more than 200 predoctoral students in toxicology/environmental health sciences (EHS) over the last 45 years. The objective of this predoctoral program is to train the next generation of environmental health scientists through interdisciplinary research and coursework that addresses issues of direct relevance to the NIEHS mission. We are requesting 2 years of support for each of 8 predoctoral trainees beginning after their first or second year in a PhD degree program. Trainees are recruited from several UC Davis graduate programs that provide disciplinary training relevant to EHS, including toxicology, cell and molecular biology, exposure assessment, chemistry, pathobiology, epidemiology, neuroscience, immunology, and genetics. The training faculty – 35 active researchers from 20 departments - have substantial experience mentoring predoctoral students. Faculty research focuses on mechanisms by which environmental factors contribute to human disease and encompasses diverse areas within EHS. Close collaboration among training faculty members, through joint participation in Centers and Graduate Programs as well as joint funding, promotes interdisciplinary approaches to EHS research. Trainees have access to advanced technologies, such as proteomics, epi/genomics, and metabolomics, state-of-the-art imaging, genetically modified organisms, and inhalation facilities for rodents and non-human primates. A strength of EHS research at UC Davis is the vertical integration of studies directed towards understanding environmentally induced disease. Complementing human clinical samples and epidemiologic studies, students have access to diverse animal models, including nonhuman primates, and ranging through nontraditional models in the lab to field studies of populations. In these models, students typically initiate molecular, cellular and/or tissue studies under the guidance of their faculty mentor and with input from the training faculty. The training program leverages the activities and resources of research centers and programs to provide synergy between disease prevention and public health while interacting with students early in their scientific training. The training program emphasizes practical instruction in scientific writing and communication of scientific findings to peers and lay audiences through chalk talks, annual retreats, trainee mini presentations for invited speakers, outreach activities with community groups, and participation in national meetings. Two key events expose trainees to emerging concepts, controversies, and technologies in environmental health. The first is a seminar series featuring leading environmental health scientists that is organized and managed by the trainees themselves. The second is a summer course in which trainees explore a current issue relevant to environmental health under the close guidance of training faculty. Trainees receive training in responsible conduct of research as well as rigor and transparency woven into these events but also in special sessions. The training program has an excellent track record of training leaders in EHS.