Institutional resources for training. The School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has many resources that support the training of individuals in translational research. It offers a four-year curriculum for more than 160 entering students pursuing the M.D. degree and also offers admission to twelve M.D/Ph.D. entering students annually. Graduate doctoral programs (Ph.D.) are offered in all the basic sciences departments, as are vigorous post-doctoral training programs in both the basic science and clinical departments. Of note, UNC is blessed with a host of multidisciplinary research centers, institutes, and programs, which promote interactions between basic scientists and clinicians. This combination of departmental and research center based programs has been responsible for the training of a large number of individuals in both the basic sciences and clinical investigation over the years. Currently, 46 NIH-sponsored training programs are active on the School of Medicine campus. An additional ten training programs are funded by non-NIH sources including the prestigious Markey Training Program which is jointly supported by the State of North Carolina and the Markey Foundation to provide graduate student stipends for students training in the Genetics Curriculum who wish to train in gene therapy. Many of these centers and programs are attractive for the recruitment of individuals interested in translational gene transfer research. Key centers and programs relevant to our efforts include the Caviness General Clinical Research Center (GCRC), the Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center, the Gene Therapy Center, the M.D./Ph.D. program, the Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Neuroscience Center, the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, and the Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. The Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center and the Gene Therapy Center each have active training programs that would be enhanced by this MTCC application. A list of current trainees for these two centers is included in Table 1. The Caviness General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) is of special importance to trainees interested in translational research. This NIH-funded center is directed by Dr. Paul B. Watkins and houses six patient rooms designed for gene therapy protocols employing recombinant gene transfer vectors. Significant support is available to trainees through the GCRC including a biostatistician and computer systems analyst to assist with data collection and analysis, nursing support for clinical trials, an office of clinical trials for assistance with protocol design and institutional review board (IRB) review, a core laboratory for processing of routine human laboratory specimens from clinical trials, and a human applications laboratory for processing of molecular specimens from human trials and ultimately vector production. Although not yet official, we anticipate that the GCRC will transition into a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) in this budgetary year.
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