The enclosed proposal represents a competitive renewal of an established graduate training program in Genetics at UC Berkeley. We request funds to support 17 graduate trainees in the areas of Developmental Genetics and Genomics, Cell & Systems Genetics, and Population Genetics and Evolution. Students enter this inter-disciplinary training program after gaining admission into one of four Departments on campus. Two of the Departments, Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) and Integrative Biology (IB), are located within the College of Letters and Sciences. A third Department, Plant and Microbial Biology (PMB), is located in the College of Natural Resources. Students can also enter the training program through the School of Public Health (SPH). Students are selected into the program based on an interest in one of the broadly defined areas of genetics that are sponsored by this training grant. They are also selected based on merit and future promise as independent investigators. Despite their diverse backgrounds, the training program includes a number of mechanisms to ensure that all of the graduate students obtain rigorous training in genetics. Once they enter the program, students are free to select any one of 41 different faculty mentors located in the four aforementioned performance sites. These faculty employ a variety of genetic and genomic methods to study a broad spectrum of problems in cell, developmental, and evolutionary biology, including metazoan and plant patterning, embryogenesis, sex determination, cell determination and differentiation, morphogenesis, and organogenesis. The study of cellular processes in the areas of signal transduction, DNA replication, transcription, cell trafficking and the cytoskeleton, transcription, and DNA replication are the focus of many faculty. Other faculty use genetic approaches to study evolutionary processes such as the evolution of chordates and patterning in invertebrates. In the first year of the program, trainees complete advanced lecture, laboratory, and seminar courses. Students in PMB and MCB are also required to complete three 10-week laboratory rotations with potential dissertation mentors. All students commence their dissertation research by the beginning of the second year. They are also required to complete an oral qualifying exam that is administered by four faculty from at least two different departments within the training program. All students are required to complete at least two semesters of teaching as graduate instructors during the second and third years of the training program. In addition to formal course offerings in the different areas of genetics, students are expected to participate in a variety of seminar programs, joint lab meetings, journal clubs, and retreats that are sponsored by the Genetics Training Program. ? ?
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