This application seeks support to establish a National Research Service Award program in aging research at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. We will provide state-of-the-art educational opportunities to postdoctoral fellows and pre-doctoral candidates, with the overall aim of promoting the translation of basic research findings into interventions to improve the quality of life and well-being of elderly people.
Specific aims of the training program are: 1) To provide a 2-year training program in basic and clinical aging research for up to eight highly qualified postdoctoral trainees each year, who are committed to developing successful independent research careers; 2) To provide an 8-12 week short-term research training experience for six pre-doctoral candidates each year in basic and clinical aging research; and 3) To promote the translation of basic research findings into interventions that improve the quality of life and well-being of elderly people, by bringing together scientists across a broad range of basic and clinical research through seminars, formal didactic sessions, shared laboratory experiences, and collaborative projects. Trainees will be involved in research that spans a wide range from basic to clinical aspects of aging and will be mentored by leading scientists in their respective fields. Interactions among trainees and among their mentors will be encouraged through a seminar series, formal coursework, and collaborative projects. The proposed training program will facilitate and accelerate the development of postdoctoral fellows into independent scientists interested in testing hypotheses concerning aging processes and in deriving and applying interventions that may ameliorate or prevent age-associated declines and disease. Moreover, the proposed program will attract predoctoral trainees to the field of gerontology by providing short-term research training experiences in the laboratories of experienced mentors who are investigating basic and clinical aspects of aging.
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