The Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (MCP) Graduate Training Program at the University of Wisconsin- Madison is entering its 21st year. Its main objectives are to provide training at the predoctoral level in interdisciplinary research at te forefront of Pharmacology, both at the molecular and cellular level, as well as provide a nucleus around which interdepartmental faculty, students, and scientists from across campus can meet and collaborate. The core curriculum is designed to provide graduate students with a foundational knowledge in Pharmacology and enable them to gain experience using cutting edge technologies in the laboratory that will prepare them for careers in academia, industry, government, science education, and public policy. We have identified a core group of 26 dedicated faculty trainers, representing ten departments, whose interests focus on understanding molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms by which drugs or natural ligands interact with cellular receptors and elicit effects in biological systems via signal transduction pathways. All trainers have robust research programs supported by extramural funding from the NIH and were selected based on a demonstrated commitment to training graduate students in Pharmacology. The MCP Program is administered by the Center for Training in Pharmacology and Drug Development, which leverages strong support from the School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) and the School of Pharmacy (SOP) to provide substantial resources to facilitate the professional development of MCP graduate students. Discovering mechanisms of drug action, defining new approaches to drug delivery, and developing novel drugs as therapeutics are cornerstones of the program, with a major emphasis on understanding pathways that are relevant to disease. MCP faculty members work in the interdisciplinary areas of neuropharmacology, cancer pharmacology, cardiovascular pharmacology, endocrine pharmacology, and antibiotic pharmacology, and collaborate extensively with one another to create a highly interactive network. Coursework for trainees include two semesters of Pharmacology, and one semester each of Cellular Signal Transduction Mechanisms, Molecular and Environmental Toxicology, Grant Writing and Responsible Conduct of Research for Biomedical Graduate Students. All didactic and discussion-based courses are team-taught by experts, focus on quantitative thinking, and involve multiple MCP faculty trainers. MCP students also take a Pharmacology seminar each semester during their graduate training, providing opportunities to develop excellent oral presentation skills, and host student-invited faculty speakers from top institutions across the country. An annual Signal Transduction Symposium offers an additional opportunity for students to host and interact with prominent members of the Pharmacology community and develop networking skills by inviting career panelists from academia, industry, government, patent law and science policy. Over that past 20 years, the MCP program has graduated 95 PhD students, who have gone on to successful careers in all of these areas, with an average time to degree of approximately 5.5 years. The program also boasts considerable trainee diversity, a high retention rate, and an excellent record of trainee publications. In this resubmission, we are requesting 9 training grant slots to support graduate students for 2 years of their early graduate education, a modest increase from the previous period of grant support. This request is based upon the growing demand for PhD level scientists trained in Pharmacology and the high quality of students that regularly apply to the MCP program.

Public Health Relevance

The Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (MCP) Graduate Training Program at the University of Wisconsin (UW) - Madison trains students in the discipline of Pharmacology to prepare them for careers that focus on the development of new therapeutics to treat disease. Rigorous coursework combined with opportunities to conduct pioneering research provides trainees with a mechanistic understanding of drug action, how it relates to normal human physiology, and how to exploit this knowledge to ameliorate pathophysiological conditions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)
Project #
5T32GM008688-17
Application #
9288180
Study Section
NIGMS Initial Review Group (TWD)
Program Officer
Koduri, Sailaja
Project Start
1998-07-01
Project End
2021-06-30
Budget Start
2017-07-01
Budget End
2018-06-30
Support Year
17
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Onal, Melda; Carlson, Alex H; Thostenson, Jeff D et al. (2018) A Novel Distal Enhancer Mediates Inflammation-, PTH-, and Early Onset Murine Kidney Disease-Induced Expression of the Mouse Fgf23 Gene. JBMR Plus 2:32-47
Wang, Liqun; Xia, Jing; Li, Jonathan et al. (2018) Tissue and cellular rigidity and mechanosensitive signaling activation in Alexander disease. Nat Commun 9:1899
Wei, Liming; Gregorich, Zachery R; Lin, Ziqing et al. (2018) Novel Sarcopenia-related Alterations in Sarcomeric Protein Post-translational Modifications (PTMs) in Skeletal Muscles Identified by Top-down Proteomics. Mol Cell Proteomics 17:134-145
Cox, Nathan J; Unlu, Gokhan; Bisnett, Brittany J et al. (2018) Dynamic Glycosylation Governs the Vertebrate COPII Protein Trafficking Pathway. Biochemistry 57:91-107
Windsor, Ian W; Palte, Michael J; Lukesh 3rd, John C et al. (2018) Sub-picomolar Inhibition of HIV-1 Protease with a Boronic Acid. J Am Chem Soc 140:14015-14018
Hanna, Michael G; Peotter, Jennifer L; Frankel, E B et al. (2018) Membrane Transport at an Organelle Interface in the Early Secretory Pathway: Take Your Coat Off and Stay a While: Evolution of the metazoan early secretory pathway. Bioessays 40:e1800004
Tomko, Lucas A; Hill, Ryan C; Barrett, Alexander et al. (2018) Targeted matrisome analysis identifies thrombospondin-2 and tenascin-C in aligned collagen stroma from invasive breast carcinoma. Sci Rep 8:12941
Duellman, Tyler; Chen, Xi; Wakamiya, Rie et al. (2018) Nucleic acid-induced potentiation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 enzymatic activity. Biochem J 475:1597-1610
Romero-Masters, James C; Ohashi, Makoto; Djavadian, Reza et al. (2018) An EBNA3C-deleted Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) mutant causes B-cell lymphomas with delayed onset in a cord blood-humanized mouse model. PLoS Pathog 14:e1007221
Schenk, Noah A; Dahl, Peter J; Hanna 4th, Michael G et al. (2018) A simple supported tubulated bilayer system for evaluating protein-mediated membrane remodeling. Chem Phys Lipids 215:18-28

Showing the most recent 10 out of 118 publications