This proposal is a renewal for the training initiative for pre-doctoral training in Tropical Infectious Diseases and requests funding for five trainees for five years. The Principal Investigator is Professor Dyann Wirth, Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. The training program will be centered at the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). According to the World Health Organization, over one third of the deaths in the world in 2005 were due to infectious diseases and this proportion is likely to increase with the spread of HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Thus, there is an increasing need for research and training in infectious diseases. The department has eighteen faculty members who are focused on developing country infectious diseases, specifically on malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. The renewal training program provides for training of predoctoral students in tropical infectious diseases, including training in core knowledge areas of immunology, molecular biology, cell biology, biostatistics, biochemistry, genetics and genomics. Students, in addition, will receive advanced training focusing on specific infectious agents and the applications of modern approaches to vaccine and drug development for these important diseases. Much of the ongoing basic research in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases addresses important areas of molecular pathogenesis, in particular the host-pathogen interfaces. Trainees in this program will be exposed to integrated approaches that consider the host-pathogen relationship at the molecular and cellular levels, incorporating biochemistry and genomics, to generate a more broad perspective on disease pathogenesis and strategies for intervention.
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