This proposal is to continue NIH support for predoctoral training within the interdepartmental Training Program in Genetics (TPG) of Yale University. In a typical year, there are ~35-40 TPG trainees, of which the TPG financially supports 14 2nd and 3rd year students. Sixty-five faculty are TPG trainers. The principal administrative and training entities are within three departments: the departments of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) in the FAS, and Genetics at the Yale Medical School. The program, which is overseen by two co-Directors, Valerie Reinke and John Carlson, supports training in all aspects of modern genetics. Candidate students enter Yale via application to either the umbrella program Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) or to the EEB department. At the end of year 1, students with a research interest in genetics and who are in the lab of participating TPG faculty fill out a formal application to join the TPG. The TPG advisory panel reviews the applications and selects the most appropriate student to be appointed to the TPG. The TPG has multiple training activities, including an annual student-organized symposium, a research-in- progress seminar series, and various workshops for scientific and career development. Importantly, multiple training initiatives specific to this program have been added during the last funding period, including a TPG retreat, an outside speaker seminar series, and additional mentoring for both trainees and junior faculty trainers. All students perform at least one-year of supervised teaching and receive travel funds to attend and present their work at national or international scientific meetings. All TPG students are mentored by the TPG directors, in addition to their thesis committee. Starting in fall 2011, the students received full institutional support (stipend, tuition and health benefits) from Yale during their first year, which includes formal course work and three research rotations. The majority of graduates go on to leading positions in academic and research institutions or in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
The Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics at Yale University supports the education of the next generation of research scientists in genetics. Graduates from this program go on to leading positions in universities, research institutes, and industry, where they contribute to finding medical and practical solutions to genetic diseases, cancers, and other disorders that afflict humans.
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