This competitive grant renewal requests a continuation of support for years 26-30 for some of the predoctoral students in the Brown University Graduate Program in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry (MCB). Students are admitted to this interdisciplinary graduate program on the basis of their academic qualifications and research potential, judged from college transcripts, letters of recommendation, a personal essay, the Graduate Record Examination, and an interview. Trainees will be chosen from the 56 students in the MCBProgram, usually after 1-2years of graduate study at Brown. Funds are requested to maintain our current level of 7 trainees (years 1 to 3), and modest growth to 8 trainees (year 4) and 9 trainees (year 5). Training will be appropriate for careers in both laboratory research and academic instruction. The breadth of training will be an asset to trainees in matching later career choices to national needs. The 32 faculty trainers have been selected from eight Departments of the Division of Biology and Medicine and from the Department of Chemistry. The number of trainers is expected to increase to 59 due to new faculty hires and the newjoint Brown-Marine BiologicalLaboratory graduate program. The interdisciplinary training program is organized in recognition of the fact that current investigations in molecular and cell biology today draw on conceptual and experimental approaches merged from biochemistry and structural biology, molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology, genetics and genomics, immunologyand virology. The students'specialty training will be in any one of these areas, building on a foundationwhich includes elements of all. This common foundation will be achieved by core courses, distribution courses and a program of seminars, colloquia and journal clubs in which trainees, postdoctoral associates and faculty participate. The major requirement of the Program is original laboratory research leading to the doctoral thesis. The Program also includes a one year requirement for teaching designed to improve communication skills. The unified structure of the Division of Biology and Medicine provides an unusual opportunity for interdisciplinary studies bridging basic science and clinical applications. All facilities of the Division of Biology and Medicine, Department of Chemistry and general facilities of Brown University are available for this training program. The successful careers in academia and research of our Ph.D. graduate is testimony to the excellenceof our training program.
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