The University of Michigan proposes a predoctoral Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Training Program for a select group of Ph.D. students. The number of training slots requested for this program is ten per year for a five-year period of support. Students will be appointed to the training program for two years beginning in the second year of their Ph.D. program. A diverse cohort of talented and promising trainees will be selected, and faculty mentors will adopt best practices in the retention of trainees throughout their graduate studies. The participating units are the Department of Chemistry, the Biophysics Program, and the Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; the Department of Biological Chemistry, the Department of Pharmacology, and the Department of Pathology from the Medical School; the Department of Medicinal Chemistry from the College of Pharmacy; the Program in Chemical Biology, and the Life Sciences Institute. The faculty of the CBI Training Program includes chemical biologists, synthetic organic and inorganic chemists, bioorganic chemists, bioanalytical chemists, mechanistic enzymologists, spectroscopists, and crystallographers. 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. This sabbatical program is one of the most significant and unique opportunities available to the University of Michigan CBI trainees. Innovative career development training, including panels and hands-on training through the sabbatical program, will provide students with exposure to a wide range of possible career paths. Two core courses in Chemical Biology and a CBI seminar course are integral to the program. Research and classroom training will also emphasize responsible conduct in research and strategies for conducting reproducible research with the highest standards of scientific rigor. 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 Michigan CBI training program supports students both from research groups that have historically focused on purely chemical or purely biological problems as well as research groups with a strong core emphasis in chemical biology. This varied perspective provides strengths and opportunities integral to the training program. 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.
This project will produce a generation of scientists uniquely positioned to creatively address problems in research at the chemistry-biology interface. The program will recruit a high quality and diverse cohort of graduate students, provide them with unique skills and knowledge that adds value to the training they would otherwise receive in their graduate programs, and develop mentoring strategies that position trainees for professional success in a broad range of fields. The discovery of solutions to problems in human health increasingly requires the multidisciplinary expertise and collaborative skills that trainees will gain from this program.
