Predoctoral Training in Exercise Physiology and Aging

描述(由申请人提供)：马里兰大学帕克学院运动学、运动生物学和老年学系有培养训练有素的博士的历史，这些博士完成博士后培训后成为富有成效的教职员工。在这个项目的前9年里，我们已经支持了18名学员，其中12人完成了博士学位，5人仍在接受培训，1人在不同的学科(神经科学)攻读医学/博士学位。在12名毕业生中，有11人(92%)获得了国立卫生研究院的博士后研究奖学金。在这12名毕业生中，有7人现在是终身教职，1人在工业，1人是兼职教师，3人仍然是博士后。此外，我们已经毕业了3名非洲裔美国女性，她们已经在德克萨斯大学西南分校、维克森林大学和坦普尔大学获得了NIH博士后研究奖学金。该计划为学员提供完成高质量论文研究项目所需的技能，这些研究项目涉及：1)与年龄相关的身体成分、代谢、心血管和肌肉骨骼功能的变化，以及心血管疾病风险因素；2)运动训练引起的这些参数的变化；3)这些参数的基线测量背后的遗传结构，它们随着年龄的变化，以及它们随着运动训练干预的变化；以及4)使用细胞和分子生物学方法在动物和细胞培养模型中导致这些反应的机制。更新培训计划的一个重要改进是这个翻译部分，学员可以将他们的研究从人类生理学研究扩展到动物模型和细胞培养的研究，以描述潜在的细胞和分子机制。学员的研究可以在马里兰大学医学院老年病学部、内分泌学、糖尿病和营养学部、生理学系以及护理和儿童学院国家医学中心遗传医学研究中心的密切合作实验室的初级、中级和副导师的指导下进行。学员完成衰老生物学基础课程；运动、心血管、肌肉骨骼、代谢、细胞、分子生物学和生理学；遗传学；生物统计学和研究设计方面的专门知识。我们建议继续这项计划，资助6名博士后实习生每人4年，以高质量的课程完成他们的博士学位和一个论文研究项目，为他们获得NIH博士后研究奖学金和最终以运动生物学和衰老为重点的研究项目的学术教员职位做准备。 相关性：该计划每年将支持6名实习生，他们将通过高质量的研究项目完成博士学位。该项目的长期目标是帮助学员获得NIH高级博士后研究奖学金，并最终获得学术教师职位，专注于预防与年龄相关的重大问题的研究和教学，如骨质疏松症、肥胖症、糖尿病、高血压和心血管疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Maryland College Park Department of Kinesiology exercise biology and aging program has a history of producing well-trained PhDs who complete postdoctoral training and become productive faculty members. We have supported 18 trainees over the first 9 yrs of this program with 12 completing their PhD degrees, 5 still in training, and 1 pursuing an MD/PhD degree in a different discipline (neuroscience). Eleven of the 12 who graduated (92%) have gone on to NIH postdoctoral research fellowships. Seven of these 12 graduates are now in tenure-track academic positions, 1 is in industry, 1 is part-time faculty, and 3 are still in postdoctoral positions. Furthermore, we have graduated 3 African-American women who have gone on to NIH postdoctoral research fellowships at UT-Southwestern, Wake Forest, and Temple. This program provides trainees with the skills necessary for them to complete high-quality dissertation research projects addressing: 1) age-related changes in body composition, metabolic, CV, and musculoskeletal function, and CV disease risk factors; 2) exercise training-induced changes in these same parameters; 3) the genetic architecture underlying the baseline measures of these parameters, their changes with aging, and their changes with exercise training interventions; and 4) the mechanisms responsible for these responses in animal and cell culture models using cell and molecular biology methodologies. A substantial enhancement of this renewal Training Program is this translational component, whereby trainees can extend their studies from human physiological studies to investigations in animal models and cell culture to delineate the underlying cell and molecular mechanisms. Trainees' research can be conducted with Primary, Secondary, and Associate Mentors at closely collaborating laboratories at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Division of Gerontology, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, Department of Physiology, and School of Nursing and Childrens National Medical Center Research Center for Genetic Medicine. Trainees complete coursework in the basic biology of aging; specific knowledge in exercise, CV, musculoskeletal, metabolic, cell, and molecular biology and physiology; genetics; and biostatistics and research design. We propose to continue this program to fund each of 6 predoctoral trainees for 4 yrs to complete their PhD degrees with high-quality coursework and a dissertation research project that will prepare them for an NIH postdoctoral research fellowship and an eventual academic faculty position with a research program focusing on exercise biology and aging. RELEVANCE: This program will support 6 trainees/yr who will complete their PhD degrees with high quality research projects. The long-term goal is to prepare trainees to pursue high-level NIH postdoctoral research fellowships and, eventually, academic faculty positions that focus on research and teaching in the prevention of such major age-associated issues as sarcopenia, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and CV disease.