Molecular Basis of Microbial Pathogenesis

描述(申请人提供)：传染病是世界范围内发病率、死亡率和经济生产力损失的主要原因。微生物耐药性、新出现的感染、将微生物用作生物恐怖主义武器以及获得性免疫缺陷综合症(艾滋病)都是目前尚未解决的传染病问题的例子。开发诊断、治疗和预防传染病和生物恐怖主义的改进方法是国家的高度优先事项，要实现这一目标，将需要培训更多具有微生物发病机制专业知识的科学家。这是我们在科罗拉多大学健康科学中心的微生物致病分子基础博士后培训项目的第一个竞争性续签申请。我们的培训人员目前由来自生物化学和分子遗传学、医学、微生物学、神经病学、儿科和药理学等系的18名高度互动的科学家组成。他们拥有美国国立卫生研究院资助的微生物发病机制研究项目、博士后水平培训的成功记录、广泛的专业互动和一流的研究设施。我们的计划为基础生物医学科学家和内科科学家提供跨学科的、以实验室为基础的微生物致病分子基础培训。我们的学员通过参加相关基础生物医学科学和科学伦理方面的高级研究生课程，参加各种研讨会、期刊俱乐部和数据俱乐部，以及参加国家科学会议来展示他们的研究成果，并与其研究领域的专家互动，以补充他们的实验室研究。我们计划的主要优势包括我们培训教师的规模及其跨学科专业知识的广度，合格申请者的不断增加和被录取的学员的高质量，广泛的培训活动，以及我们的学员与教职员工之间在博士、医学博士和D.V.M.培训方面的广泛互动。我们将积极从代表性不足的少数群体中招募合格的学员。我们以前的博士后实习生现在大多是学术界、政府或生物技术/制药行业的成功研究科学家。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Infectious diseases are a major cause of morbidity, mortality and loss of economic productivity worldwide. Microbial drug resistance, emerging infections, use of microbes as bioterrorism weapons, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are examples of currently unsolved infectious disease problems. Developing improved methods to diagnose, treat and prevent infectious diseases and bioterrorism is a high national priority, and achieving that goal will require training additional scientists with expertise in microbial pathogenesis. This is the first competing renewal application for our postdoctoral training program on the Molecular Basis of Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Our training faculty currently consists of 18 highly interactive scientists from the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Medicine, Microbiology, Neurology, Pediatrics and Pharmacology. They have outstanding NIH-funded research programs on microbial pathogenesis, documented success with postdoctoral-level training, extensive professional interactions, and excellent research facilities. Our program provides interdisciplinary, laboratory-based training on the molecular basis of microbial pathogenesis for basic biomedical scientists and physician-scientists. Our trainees supplement their laboratory research by taking advanced graduate-level courses in relevant basic biomedical sciences and scientific ethics, participating in a wide variety of seminars, journal clubs and data clubs, and attending national scientific meetings to present their research findings and interact with experts in their research areas. Major strengths of our program include the increasing size of our training faculty and the breadth of their interdisciplinary expertise, the increasing pool of eligible applicants and the high quality of the admitted trainees, the broad range of training activities, and the extensive interactions between our trainees and faculty members with Ph.D., M.D., and D.V.M. training. We will recruit actively for qualified trainees from under-represented minority groups. Most of our previous postdoctoral trainees are now successful research scientists in academia, government or the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry.