Core B - Training Core

项目总结/文摘

Project Summary/Abstract The overall objective of the MDSRC Training Core is to increase the number of rigorously trained and scientifically competent researchers capable of sustaining productive basic science, translational and/or clinical research programs in muscular dystrophy. To meet this central objective, the core will identify and recruit qualified basic science and clinical predoctoral and postdoctoral candidates who demonstrate a genuine interest in, and potential for, independent basic science, translational and/or clinical research in muscular dystrophy. Particular emphasis will be placed on the recruitment of trainees from underrepresented groups with respect to race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status and disabilities. The Training Core and associated matching funds will support at least three predoctoral trainees in MDSRC faculty labs at any one time, plus at least one postdoctoral trainee and one clinical trainee. The Training Cores at UF and UCLA will oversee and coordinate a spectrum of training activities for trainees supported by the core and matching funds, as well as the predoctoral, postdoctoral and clinical fellow researchers engaged in muscular dystrophy research in the labs of researchers supported through the projects of the MDSRC. Each trainee will prepare an Individual Development Plan, based on their past training and recommendations from their primary mentor and thesis committee. Depending on the career stage of the trainee, the individualized plan may consist of a structured didactic program, seminars, and mentored grant writing experiences. All predoctoral trainees will be required to enroll in courses at their respective institutions that cover muscle health and disease, grant writing and responsible conduct of research. Trainees in clinical research will further be required to enroll in courses related to the design and conduct of clinical trials. Both UF and UCLA offer specific courses on muscular dystrophies - Muscular Dystrophy and Myopathies at UF and Mechanisms and Therapies for Muscular Dystrophies at UCLA. The UCLA course is fully online and available to any student across the University of California system and beyond, and the UF course recording will be complete in Spring 2021, and made available to trainees across the three sites. The Training Cores will further enhance the training environment by supporting 1) annual trainee hosted seminars at UF and UCLA, 2) travel to attend the Annual NCH/OSU Myology Course and, for those attending the course, a trainee presentation evening for trainees from UF, UCLA and NU and, 3) travel to present at our Wellstone Center aligned New Directions in Muscle Biology and Disease (New Directions) international conference. In addition, the MDSRC Center will continue to organize two international conferences focused on muscle health and disease – the New Directions Conference, and Advances in Skeletal Muscle Biology in Health & Disease Conference. At the New Directions Conference, the Training Core will host a Trainee Data Blitz for trainees across the different Wellstone Centers to facilitate interactions and data sharing.