This proposal requests renewal of Columbia's pre- and postdoctoral Training Program in Immunology, with an increase in training positions from 6 to 8 (6 predoctoral positions and 2 postdoctoral positions). We believe this increase is justified by the program's accomplishments, the quality and training record of the faculty, and the quality and success of its trainees. This training program has provided an important venue to bring the immunology community together and the impetus to establish the Center for Immunology. Twelve additional faculty members (7 recently recruited to Columbia and 5 established faculty) have joined the training program to bring the total to twenty-three. These faculty come from 8 departments including Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Medicine, Microbiology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Pharmacology and Physiology. All but two of these PIs have either a primary or secondary appointment in basic science departments, and all are recipients of peer reviewed research grants. In total these 23 faculty currently are responsible for training 104 pre- and postdoctoral fellows, occupy approximately 70,000-sq. ft. of laboratory and office space, and account for approximately $23 million in research grant support. This training program has successfully brought together faculty through a monthly seminar series featuring leading immunologists from other institutions, a monthly work-in-progress seminar series for PIs, a weekly immunology data club for pre- and postdoctoral fellows, a weekly immunology journal club, and an annual immunology mini-retreat for pre- and postdoctoral fellows. Other accomplishments include, revitalized graduate and medical school courses in immunology, establishment of genomics and advanced immunology courses, initiation of a teaching requirement for postdoctoral fellows; obtainment of $2.5 million for an endowed chair in immunology, a $2 million Diamond Foundation award to recruit associate level immunologists and the Dean's support for recruitment of three senior immunologists. We are proud of our record of providing two years of training for 13 predoctoral fellows and 4 postdoctoral fellows. These accomplishments more than fulfill the promises made in our initial application to establish an NlAlD training program in immunology. In the next five years we expect to consolidate and expand on these gains.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 31 publications
