Biodefense & Infectious Diseases Short Term Training for Minority Students

我们建议继续在弗吉尼亚大学医学院开展一个现有的、非常成功的暑期研究实习项目(SRIP)。该计划的目标将是让不同的本科生和医学生接触最先进的生物防御和传染病研究，以 向他们灌输信心和将研究作为一种职业选择的愿望，并让他们熟悉在生物医学研究领域存在的机会。这个为期十周的项目是多方面的，第一个也是最重要的方面是学生在教师导师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先进研究技术，包括使用共焦显微镜和电子显微镜、生物信息学、基因组学和蛋白质组学、基因图谱技术等。第三方面包括一系列讲座和讨论。 其中，学生接触到广泛的研究课题和国际公认的科学家，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。我们计划的最后一个方面是每周一次的研究午餐，由佩里博士和合作者霍肯史密斯博士共同主持， 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。这一计划的所有组成部分都由近30名对生物防御和传染病研究感兴趣的教师指导到位。在这笔赠款的最初几年里，我们接待了47名受训人员，其中51%有A、B或C类病原体项目，26%有先天或后天免疫项目，23%有基础科学项目。此外，获得本科学位的参与者中有45%继续攻读博士和医学博士/博士研究生课程。我们觉得我们的节目提供了一个出色的 激发和培养对生物医学研究事业的兴趣的环境。参与者对计划的审查一直很出色，并对我们计划的持续兴趣做出了重大贡献。

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 biodefense and infectious diseases 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 ten week program is multi-faceted, with the first and most important facet involving student exposure to and participation in a contemporary research project under the guidance of a faculty mentor. A second facet has the students participating in a series of weekly workshops in which students are exposed to 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, 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, including women and underrepresented minority scientists who can serve as role models for these students. A final facet of our program is a weekly research lunch, co-hosted by the Dr. Petri and the co-PI 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. All components of this program are in place using nearly thirty faculty mentors with research interests in biodefense and infectious diseases. During the initial years of this grant we have hosted 47 trainees with 51% having category A, B or C pathogen projects, 26% innate or acquired immunity projects and 23% basic science projects. Furthermore, 45% of participants who have obtained their undergraduate degree have gone on to PhD and MD/PhD graduate programs. We feel that our program provides an outstanding environment to stimulate and foster interest in research career in biomedical research. Program reviews by participants have been outstanding and have contributed significantly to the continued interest in our program.