The present proposal requests renewal for UCLA's pre and post-doctoral Vascular Biology Training Program. Vascular disease remains the number one killer in the United States and many other developed countries. During the last three decades much attention has been placed in understanding the molecular and genetic basis of this pathology. These efforts have resulted in the development of novel drugs by the private sector that have significantly improved prevention, intervention and therapy of vascular disease. Nonetheless, the increased life-span of our population constantly brings new challenges that should be addressed. In addition, the need for targetted and more effective therapies with minimal side-effects continues and provides the impulse for the next decade of research in this area. Here at UCLA we have a tremendous resource of interdisciplinary investigators whose research focuses in vascular biology and constitute the basis for our training program. Now in its 4th year, the Vascular Biology Training Grant has trained 4 pre and 4 post doctoral fellows. In this short time, the trainees have collectively published 21 peer-reviewed manuscripts and secured positions in both academia and industry. Furthermore, the activities developed by the training program have propelled additional interactions between laboratories intensifying collaborative activies and co-mentorship of students. In this renewal we provide detail description of our progress and present a comprehensive training plan for the next five years. We seek funding for a total of 9 pre- and 3 post-doctoral fellows/year, in which 3 new pre- and either 1 or 2 new post-doctoral fellows will enter the program each year. This request is justified by the increased number of trainees in this area, which in the 2005 includes 82 pre- and 76 post-doctoral fellows working with our training faculty in the area of vascular biology. We have also increased our training mentors from 21 to 28 and developed one additional concentration area (Vascular Stem Cells). In addition, the training program has created an interactive plan with industry in which pre-doctoral fellows will spend three months working in biotechnology (at their site). The success of this training program has engendered enthusiasm by the School of Medicine, College of Letters and Sciences and the Graduate Division at UCLA all of which will directly support additional activities associated with our vascular program.
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