The long term objectives of this project is to develop a multidisciplinary career development program that will equip new MD and PhD investigators with the knowledge and skills to identify mutations that cause or predispose to lung diseases and to elucidate the roles of the affected genes in the etiology and pathogenesis of the diseases. This Program will emphasize the genetics and genomics of lung development, and in particular genes that encode components of signaling pathways that control important steps in the lung development program, and how defects in such genes and pathways can cause or contribute to lung disease. The program will train Scholars in state-of-the-art technologies in mouse as well as human genetics and genomics to allow them to move back and forth between a tractable model genetic organism [mouse) where they can more easily identify new components of pathways and determine their functions in ung development and disease, and the more challenging but clinically important human genetic and genomic studies. The Program has three major components. The first is a one-year core curriculum of graduate classes in genetics and genomics that will provide Scholars with the necessary background and conceptual and technical framework for research in this field. The second is a didactic research curriculum that supplements the coursework during the first year and provides practical and ethical information and training for carrying out this type of research to Scholars. The third part is a mentored research project carried out in the second and third years using a genetic or genomic approach in mouse or in human patient samples to identify or characterize genes in a signaling pathway and their roles in lung development and disease. Upon completion of the Program, Scholars will be equipped with the tools to carry out on their own genetic and genomic experiments aimed at identifying disease genes and their roles in pulmonary diseases and obtaining independent funding for such research. Relevance: This program will provide new investigators with the knowledge and skills to discover genes that cause or contribute to lung disease and thereby lead to new ways of diagnosing and potentially treating patients with those diseases.
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