This new K12 proposal requests support for 1-2 years of salary support to develop independent investigators with skills that integrate computational sciences and pulmonary medicine. M.D., Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. candidates will be recruited based on their commitments to biomedical research careers, their excellence in scholarly and medical training, and their interest in pulmonary disease, to be mentored in a program that will provide expertise in biomedical informatics and the omics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (UCCOM), the University of Cincinnati School of Engineering (UC), and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). The scholars program will provide didactic experience, research training, and career pathway support to optimize their development as independent investigators with the integrated skills needed to apply the omics to pulmonary disease. The program brings together highly a committed training faculty within a program that will integrate outstanding clinician-scientists expert in pediatric and adult pulmonary medicine, with scientists in environmental health, pulmonary biology, bioengineering, bioinformatics, and other computational science. Use and interpretation of proteomics, genomics, clinical bioinformatics, lipidomics, metabolomics, and genetics will provide the framework for the training experience. Program Aims: 1) Attract, recruit, and advance career development of the highest quality applicants to the pulmonary omics program, including underrepresented minorities; 2) To further develop and apply a highly organized training program that will include didactic and direct research experience in a curriculum that will bridge knowledge regarding pulmonary biology and medicine with computational and technological skills that are needed to optimally train the pulmonary investigators for their future careers as biomedical and physician-scientists; and 3) To train and develop career paths for investigators who will become leaders in the field of pulmonary medicine. Rationale: There is compelling need for career development of young investigators who are well trained in quantitative biomedical sciences and pulmonary disease. Rapid expansion of enabling technologies, whether in use of clinical databases, bioinformatics, epidemiology, genomics, epigenetics, protein sciences and metabolism, has created unparalleled opportunities to advance knowledge related to pulmonary medicine. The training experience and temperament of young investigators choosing medical and biological research are often quite distinct from those choosing computational-based sciences. It is increasingly apparent that advances in high-throughput technology and computational abilities provide fertile support for synergizing discoveries that will transform the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary disease. The present K12 application seeks to create transdisciplinary opportunities for career development, bridging computational sciences and technology related to high-throughput platforms with pulmonary medicine and biology.
This new K12 application in 'Omics of Lung Diseases' will recruit and train outstanding M.D., Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. postgraduate investigators in a 1-2 year Scholars program to integrate skills in computational sciences designed to establish outstanding careers for the young Scholars. Scholars will gain the skills needed to produce, interrogate, and interpret complex patient and experimental data sets related to pulmonary medicine and disease. A multidisciplinary faculty, including physicians, geneticists, and computational scientists, will provide training for future scientists who will be enabled and committed to using the computational skills needed to advance discoveries to improve diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases and become the future research leaders in pulmonary research and medicine.
