This is a revised application from the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) to support the Indiana Cutaneous Biology Research Training Program (ICBRTP), which will focus on the training of postdoctoral cutaneous biologists. The goal of the proposed program is to produce post-doctoral trainees in an interdisciplinary environment of highly interactive basic scientists and clinicians and prepare them for a career in cutaneous biology research. A group of 10 very experienced senior faculty with a long history of skin-related research have been assembled to serve as preceptors for this T32 training program. This group along with six junior faculty serving as resource faculty have created a highly productive translational research environment. Strengths of the program include the leadership of a Program Director and two Associate Program Directors, all three with established administrative, training, and research experience in both basic and clinical science, and the quality of the preceptors, research environment, and diversity of skin-related research, and a full spectrum of existing resources for performing bench to bedside research projects. Preceptors and resource faculty of the ICBRTP represent a total of nine separate clinical or basic science departments and currently have ~ $27 million of peer reviewed direct research funds per year. These preceptors have extensive experience in training young scientists who have successfully continued in academic and research positions. Support is requested for 2 post-doctoral PhD or MD trainees, and an additional fellowship position will be funded by the IU Department of Dermatology. All trainees will take courses in scientific ethics and translational research methods. Didactic coursework requirements will be tailored to the research focus of the post-doctoral fellow. Program-specific educational/research events include a weekly Dermatology Research in Progress meeting, basic science and clinical conferences and attendance at the annual Society for Investigative Dermatology Meeting. In addition to research, trainees will write and present a grant proposal. A program- specific Steering Committee comprising senior investigators who are T32 program directors, External Advisory Committee comprising four investigators who represent diverse training experiences at other institutions, and a four-step program evaluation process are in place. ICBRTP will augment the commitment of the IUSM to educate researchers who will discover new diagnostic tools, and alter therapeutic paradigms in the development of new and more efficacious treatments for skin diseases.
This project is to train post-doctoral fellows in cutaneous biology research by a highly interactive multidisciplinary group of clinicians and scientists anchored in the Department of Dermatology at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
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