This renewal application requests continued support for an established, successful, multi-disciplinary train program in Digestive Diseases. The overall objective remains to train qualified postdoctoral individuals ( M.D. and/or Ph.D.) for academic careers in the enteric sciences. We will continue an integrated approach Immunology, Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, Pharmacology) departments. Areas available to trainees include intracellular trafficking, absorption, secretion, growth regulation, malignant transformation), phenomena (gene expression, membrane organization, cell death), diseases (functional bowel, pancreatic and chronic liver diseases, cancer), or populations (the Rochester Epidemiology Project). We have expanded the faculty with NIH-funded investigators in clinical (Thibodeau-Pathology; Nair-Endocrinology; Ahlquist, Camilleri, Farrugia, Karnes-Gastroenterology; Paya-Infectious Diseases) and basic (Lipsky, Kaufmann-Pharmacology; Urrutia- Biochemistry/Molecular Biology) departments. We request support for six postdoctoral trainees per year, an increase of one over prior years, to accommodate the expanded training opportunities, the consistent number of qualified applicants (all to be appointed for a minimum of two years) and the overall success of the program (75% of former trainees in the last 10 years have taken full-time academic positions and 66% of these have extramural grant support). We continue to aggressively recruit qualified Ph.D. candidates and representatives of minority groups; since 1986, when Dr. LaRusso became director, 30% of our trainees have been Ph.D.s and 27% have been from minority groups, including women. Since the last renewal, in addition to enlarging the faculty, significantly expanded integrated facilities are available to trainees including a remodeled GI Research Unit, an expanded Clinical Research Center, and a new Outpatient Clinical Research Center to open in 1999. Also, new Mayo- sponsored Research Cores (NMR, mass spectrometry, optical microscopy, transgenic mice) are now available. Finally, major Institutional initiatives in cancer, molecular medicine, xenotransplantation, pediatrics, and health services research will add approximately 20 additional scientists to the Mayo campus providing new opportunities to faculty collaboration and trainee experiences.
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