The University of Michigan proposes to continue a predoctoral Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Training Program for a selected group of Ph.D. students. The number of students requested for this new training program is 10 for a five-year period of support. The participating units are the Department of Chemistry, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts;the Departments of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology, Medical School;the Biophysics Research Division (BRD);the Chemical Biology Ph.D. (CB IDP) program and he Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy. The faculty of the CBI Training Program includes synthetic organic and inorganic chemists, bioorganic chemists, bioanalytical chemists, protein chemists, mechanistic enzymologists, spectroscopists, and crystallographers. The Ph.D. degrees will be awarded in Chemistry, Biological Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Pharmacology, and Medicinal Chemistry. Students will be appointed to the training grant for two years beginning in the second year of their Ph.D. program. The curriculum of the Training Program includes a novel student sabbatical to be completed before graduation and, preferably, while the trainee is supported by the training grant. In an effort to enhance interaction between students and provide more opportunity for trainees to present their research, we have instituted a monthly luncheon that is attended by present and past CBI trainees. Twice per year, students from the larger CB IDP in order to foster interactions between students of both programs. In addition, seminars and individual meetings with CBI trainees have been implemented in order to provide career counseling. Two core courses in Chemical Biology and regularly scheduled opportunities for the trainees to present their research results to the Training Program Faculty and fellow trainees are also integral to the program. Research opportunities for the trainees are varied and involve faculty with a wide range of expertise in research at the interface of chemistry and biology. The trainees have access to the most sophisticated techniques and instrumentation in modern research at this interface. The faculty of the Training Program has a long history of collaborative research and this interactive approach to research is a central theme in the training of a new generation of scientists in these four basic disciplines. During the next five years, the CBI Program is positioned to be a major contributor to the new interdisciplinary Life Sciences Initiative at the University of Michigan.
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