T-COHR: Summer Undergraduate Research Program

描述（由申请人提供）：该计划的主要目标是为六名有才华的大学本科生提供短期（10周）的口腔和颅面健康和疾病领域的研究培训经验。长远目标是通过接触这一领域广泛的研究活动所产生的兴趣，增加攻读口腔、牙科和颅面生物学高级学位和研究培训的学生人数。该计划的教师已被选定在牙周病，口腔传染病，颅面发育，口腔癌生物学和口腔微生物学领域的积极研究计划的基础上。一些教师还从事口腔系统疾病的临床和社区口腔健康研究，这些疾病不成比例地影响非洲裔美国人，包括口腔癌，牙周病，幼儿龋齿和慢性疾病如肥胖和糖尿病的口腔疾病负担。该计划的学生将密切参与其中一个参与实验室正在进行的项目。他们将接触到与口腔健康和疾病相关的基础和临床研究的基本方面。学生还将参加一系列研讨会，其中包括生物学研究的前沿主题，特别关注与口腔和颅面生物学相关的主题。此外，系列研讨会将提供实验室安全和负责任的研究行为的基本知识基础。拟议的培训计划还将使学生接触尖端的临床牙科，诊断和以病人为导向的研究。在培训期结束时，学生将准备一份书面论文，并就他们的项目向同学，导师，研究生和博士后研究员的观众进行口头陈述。他们将被鼓励在11月返回校园，在全校范围内的年度研究日介绍他们的研究。该计划将在每年年底使用定性和定量方法相结合进行评估，包括对申请人池数据和招聘方法的分析，与学生的离职面谈和调查，以及来自导师的正式和非正式反馈。此外，学生的职业选择和进步将通过每年与参与者的联系进行至少10年的跟踪。 公共卫生相关性：该计划的目标是吸引有才华的本科生进入口腔，牙科和颅面科学的职业生涯，特别是与NIDCR相关的领域。预计这将增加研究口腔、牙齿和颅面疾病的合格调查人员的供应。增加这些领域的劳动力将 提高了应对口腔健康相关疾病的能力，并提高了全国口腔保健的质量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective of this program is to provide short-term (10 weeks) research training experience for six talented college undergraduate students in the area of oral and craniofacial health and disease. The long- range goal is to increase the number of such students pursuing advanced degree(s) and research training in oral, dental and craniofacial biology through the interest generated by exposure to a broad spectrum of research activities in this area. The Program Faculty have been selected on the basis of their active research programs in the areas of periodontal diseases, oral infectious diseases, craniofacial development, oral cancer biology and oral microbiology. Some faculty also engage in clinical and community-based oral health research on oral-systemic diseases that disproportionately affect African Americans, including oral cancer, periodontal diseases, early childhood caries and the oral disease burden of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Students in the program will become intimately involved in ongoing projects in one of the participating laboratories. They will be exposed to essential aspects of conducting basic and clinical research related to oral health and disease. Students also will participate in a seminar series that features cutting-edge topics in biological research with a specific focus on topics related to oral and craniofacial biology. In addition, the seminar series will provide a fundamental knowledge base in laboratory safety and responsible conduct of research. The proposed training program also will expose the students to cutting-edge clinical dentistry, diagnostics and patient-oriented research. At the conclusion of the training period, the students will prepare a written paper and give an oral presentation on their project to an audience of fellow students, mentors, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. They will be encouraged to return to campus in November to present their research at a university-wide annual research day. The program will be evaluated at the end of each year using a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, including analysis of the applicant pool data and recruitment methods, exit interviews and surveys with the students, and formal and informal feedback from the mentors. Additionally, students' career choices and progress will be tracked for a minimum of 10 years by yearly contact with the participants. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal of this program is to attract talented undergraduate college students into careers in oral, dental and craniofacial sciences, particularly fields of relevance to the NIDCR. This is expected to increase the supply of qualified investigators who are studying oral, dental and craniofacial diseases. Increasing the work force in these fields will result in an enhanced capacity to address oral health-related disease and improve the quality of oral health care nationwide.