This proposal requests continued support for the Molecular Endocrinology Training Program (METP) at Vanderbilt University. Progress towards understanding and curing obesity, diabetes and many other diseases requires the training of the next generation of scientists with expertise in molecular endocrinology, the goal of this program. The METP comprises 30 faculty members from 6 basicsciencedepartments.Ofthisgroup26areestablishedfacultywithstable,well-??fundedprograms andsubstantialtrainingexperienceand4arenewinvestigators;3ofthesepreceptorsarefemale,2are minoritiesand1isdisabled.Thispreceptorgroupconstitutesanunusuallydiverseandtalentedgroup ofindividualswhoseworkcoversthespectrumofmolecularendocrinology.Thesepreceptorsconduct researchinthegeneralareasof:1)signaltransduction2)thehormonalregulationofgeneexpression,3) metabolicregulationand4)?celldevelopmentandfunction.Therequestforfundingofasteadystate level of 8 predoctoral and 4 postdoctoral trainees is justified on the basis of the number, size and quality of the research programs directed by the preceptors and the Institutional commitment to continue the same level of trainee recruitment despite the tough economic climate. All METP trainees are appointed upon the advice of a Steering Committee after being nominated by a preceptor. PostdoctoraltraineeshaveaPh.D.degree.Rigorousin-??depthresearchtrainingisthefocusofboththe pre-?? and postdoctoral training programs. However, the METP also ensures that all trainees receive a broad didactic education. Predoctoral training in the METP usually follows that received in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (IGP). The IGP recruits almost all predoctoral trainees in the biomedical sciences at Vanderbilt, provides a first year core curriculum, safety training and formal evaluation and career counseling programs. This centralized recruitment has considerably increased the number and quality of predoctoral students that enter Vanderbilt. After four laboratory rotations predoctoral students choose a preceptor for their thesis project and compete for METP support. The IGPandMETPhavebeenverysuccessfulinpromotingdiversityandbothprovideongoingtrainingin theResponsibleConductofResearch.AllMETPtraineesattendanannualMETPDayretreat,atrainee-?? rundataclubandtheVanderbiltDiabetesCenter(VDC)seminarserieswheretheymeetwithvisiting scientists. In conjunction with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the METP initiated a novel strategy to increase the recruitment of disabled individuals, specifically undergraduates with type 1 diabetes, through the creation of a VDC-??funded Summer Diabetes Research Program. The METP has already successfully trained 184 scientists of whom 85 have already gone onto assume academic/pharmaceuticalpositionswithanother49traineesstillintraining.
Thefieldofmolecularendocrinologyisofcentralrelevancetomultiplecommonhuman diseases, most notably obesity and diabetes. Continued progress towards understanding and curing these and many other diseases requires the training of the next generation of scientists with expertise in molecular endocrinology, which is the goal of the Molecular Endocrinology TrainingProgram(METP).
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