We seek renewal of our long-standing biotechnology training program, which has a history of producing accomplished leaders in academia and industry. Biotechnology is broadening and maturing as a field with an expansion of knowledge, methods, and applications. In parallel, industry has been shaping a new field focused on biotechnology for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. Now, more than ever before, interdisciplinary training and awareness is critically needed for biotechnologists to be optimally productive and to make an impact on the world. Stanford provides an unusually rich biotechnology environment, with co- located, nationally ranked schools devoted to basic science, engineering, and medicine, and a strong industrial presence from the surrounding Bay Area. We will leverage this environment to train talented students who will become the next-generation of global biotechnology innovators and leaders. The program fuses 28 investigators from 8 departments across the university into a highly visible program to deliver a rich, applications-oriented training experience that is uniquely focused on health-related biotechnology. Many unique features differentiate this training program, including rich curricular offerings, industrial internships, field trips, biotechnology symposia, and regular and detailed interactions with other trainees and with academic and industrial mentors. Guided by input from faculty, trainees, NIH officials, and industrial affiliates, we evolved a more cohesive training program by implementing a sharper focus on synthetic biology, pharmaceutical discovery and development, and advancements in tools and technologies related to these areas. This evolution recognizes dramatic faculty expansion and new initiatives at Stanford toward these pursuits and has motivated major changes in preceptor appointment to the training program.
The objective of the program is to provide a highly enriched, multi-disciplinary training experience in biotechnology for predoctoral students from a broad variety of departments across the university. Program components, which include coursework, mentored research experiences, and industry engagement, provide a unique mechanism for training talented students who will become the next-generation of global biotechnology innovators and leaders.
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