Short-Term Training to Increase Diversity in Health-Related Research

描述(由申请人提供)：我们建议在弗吉尼亚大学医学院继续一个现有的非常成功的暑期研究实习计划(SRIP)。该项目的目标将是让不同的本科生和医学生接触最先进的心血管研究，向他们灌输信心和将研究作为职业选择的愿望，并让他们熟悉在生物医学研究领域存在的机会。该项目每年夏天为期10周，是多方面的。第一个也是最重要的方面涉及到学生在教职员工的指导下接触和参与当代研究项目。第二个方面是让学生参加一系列每周一次的研讨会，在这些研讨会上，学生们接触到他们在个别实验室中不太可能看到的各种先进的研究技术，包括使用共焦显微镜和电子显微镜、生物信息学、基因组和蛋白质组学、基因图谱技术、杂交瘤/单抗制备等。第三个方面包括一系列讲座和讨论，学生在其中接触到广泛的研究主题和国际公认的科学家。这些科学家包括女性和代表不足的少数族裔科学家，他们可以作为这些学生的榜样。最后，我们计划的第四个方面是由欧文斯博士和联合首席研究员霍肯史密斯博士共同主办的每周研究午餐，在此期间，学生们口头陈述他们的工作假设，总结过去一周的研究进展，讨论职业选择和机会，并考虑选择和申请研究生项目的方法。60多名对心血管相关领域有研究兴趣的教职员工将担任导师。该计划的所有组成部分目前都已到位。该计划2006年拥有一批非常合格的候选人(总计250人/120人)，在当前的资助周期中，入学学生的平均GPA为3.6。总而言之，我们认为我们的项目提供了一个出色的环境来激发和培养人们对生物医学研究领域的研究生涯的兴趣。过去参与者对该计划的评价一直很出色，并对我们的计划继续感兴趣做出了重大贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to continue an existing and highly successful Summer Research Internship Program (SRIP) at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. The goals of this program will be to expose a diverse group of undergraduate students and medical students to state of the art cardiovascular research, to instill in them confidence and a desire to consider research as a career option, and to familiarize them with the opportunities that exist for a career in biomedical research. The program runs for ten weeks each summer and is multi-faceted. The first and most important facet involves student exposure to and participation in a contemporary research project under the guidance of a faculty member. A second facet has the students participating in a series of weekly workshops in which students are exposed to a variety of advanced research techniques that they are unlikely to see in individual laboratories, including the use of confocal and electron microscopy, bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics, genetic mapping techniques, hybridoma/monoclonal antibody preparation, etc. The third facet includes a series of lectures and discussions wherein the students are exposed to a wide array of research topics and internationally recognized scientists. These scientists include women and underrepresented minority scientists who can serve as role models for these students. Finally, a fourth facet of our program is a weekly research lunch co- hosted by the Dr. Owens and the co-principal investigator, Dr. Hockensmith, during which the students give oral statements of their working hypotheses, summaries of the past week's research progress, discuss career options and opportunities, and consider approaches for choosing and applying to a graduate program. More than sixty faculty members, with research interests in cardiovascular-related areas, will serve as mentors. All components of this program are currently in place. The program has an exceptional pool of highly qualified candidates (>250 total/120 URM) for 2006, and the matriculants had an average GPA of 3.6 during the current funding cycle. In summary, we feel that our program provides an outstanding environment to stimulate and foster interest in research careers in biomedical research. Reviews of the program by past participants have been outstanding and have contributed significantly to the continued interest in our program.