In this renewal, we propose to continue to expand upon, and to improve the quality of the training program in Immunology that we have developed at Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) over the last ten years. The primary goals of the proposed training program continue to be to recruit talented and highly-motivated graduate students and Postdoctoral fellows, and to provide them with first-rate training which will prepare them for careers in research, including in academia as competitive, independent investigators. The program faculty's research interests span a wide range of immunologic questions, allowing the entering trainee a considerable breadth of experimental and conceptual choice of systems, approaches, and specific research topics. Training is available in both animal and human systems, and there are several projects in each category that enhance our ability to attract and train MDs for research careers. Research areas include antigen presentation and induction of immunity, tumor immunity and immunotherapy, mucosal immunity including studies of the human female reproductive tract, regulation of immunity, and autoimmunity. A critical strength of the proposed training grant is the high quality of the research programs of the participating faculty. This faculty includes 18 well-funded program members, drawn from 7 departments within the medical school (Anesthesiology, Biochemistry, Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology, Pharmacology/ Toxicology, and Physiology) who have productive, timely, and energetic ongoing research efforts. Excellent facilities exist at DMS, particularly with the construction in 1992 of new laboratories in the Borwell Research Building at the Medical Center site. The labs are fully equipped so that the full range of state-of-the-art immunologic, biochemical, and molecular biologic techniques can be applied to various experimental questions. In addition, the Medical School has increased its support of the Immunology Program because of the strength of its faculty, their teaching activities and other accomplishments, and has targeted this program for Center status within the next 2 years. Training in Immunology spans three graduate programs--Physiology, Pharmacology/Toxicology, and Molecular and Cellular Biology, with the latter containing the majority of the participating faculty and students. Collectively, these PhD programs encompass over 100 current students with annual classes of 25 to 35 recruited from pools of over 400 applicants. Consistent with this organization, graduate training in Immunology at Dartmouth is an interdisciplinary approach that is nurtured by a highly interactive environment in which the trainees are regularly exposed to diverse areas of faculty expertise, from clinical to basic science studies, in a variety of forums, including a number of advanced courses, weekly seminar series, journal clubs, and retreats. Thus, students and postdoctoral fellows benefit from a vigorous faculty involvement and scientific exchange characteristic of the Dartmouth tradition of close student-faculty interactions. Indeed, the key to the excellence of the proposed program is the uniform intense, enthusiastic participation of our nationally and internationally recognized program faculty.
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