This application is for the next 5-year renewal of the Biotechnology Training Grant first awarded to Washington State University (WSU) in 1989, the first year of the NIH-funded Predoctoral Program. Since our last renewal in 1998, the Training Program has continued to gain in quality, recognition and impact. During this period the Program played a key role in the decision by our institution to move Biotechnology forward as the premier research focus of WSU and in the establishment of the State-funded Center for Integrated Biotechnology on our campus. Historically our crossdisciplinary Program has had a major emphasis on protein biochemistry, an area of prominence at WSU and of central importance to biotechnology, and we are now also expanding the educational opportunities for our Trainees to include the fast moving area of proteomics. The Program currently 29 Training faculty located in 4 Colleges (Agriculture, Engineering, Sciences and Veterinary Medicine) who provide depth and breath of training in these areas and also serve as preceptors for Trainee research. Trainees participate in a core of required training involving courses, laboratory rotations, seminars, journal clubs, industrial intemships and biotechnology workshops and symposia. Trainees have significant flexibility and options in choosing between 8 different Ph.D. programs including Biochemistry & Biophysics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Genetics & Cell Biology, Microbiology, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Plant Physiology and Veterinary Microbiology & Pathology. A minimum of 5 new Trainees will enter the Program each year. Salary support will be provided for the first two years by Training Grant funds supplemented by Institutional funds and for subsequent years by funds available to preceptors or through committed funds from our Graduate School. At any one time approximately 30 or more students will be involved in training. Over the years WSU has provided significant direct financial support to the Program and has renewed this commitment for the next renewal period. In fact, WSU is actively encouraging substantial expansion of the number of Trainees in the Program by significantly increasing its level of financial commitment for the next funding period. The Training Faculty have strong records of competitive research funding and of training productive and prominent scientists and engineers. In the last few years the Program has enrolled a diverse group of high quality students including a significant number of racial minorities and members of other underrepresented groups and we are actively engaged in efforts to improve in this area. Graduated trainees have taken competitive positions as postdoctoral researchers and, subsequently, long-term positions in biotechnology or academia. The Program provides state-of-the-art training in both basic and applied sciences relevant to biotechnology and thus produces scientists and engineers with sound interdisciplinary backgrounds, qualified to meet the major needs of biotechnology.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 297 publications
