As determined by several studies there is a critical national need for veterinarians in the biomedical research community. The long term objective of this NRSA Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant, Biomedical Research Experience for Veterinary Students (BREVS), continues to be the attraction of veterinarians to careers in biomedical research. There are two short term specific aims. First, the program will provide veterinary students with an opportunity to conduct a short term independent research project in an environment of discovery provided by an active laboratory and mentor. The program spans the natural life of a research project. It is designed to afford the student the opportunity to help plan the studies to be conducted, conduct a literature review, develop a research proposal, conduct the experiments, and present the data as it evolves and when the project is completed. While these projects are designed to be completed during the summer, local students have the opportunity to continue their work during elective blocks during the second, third and fourth years of the veterinary curriculum. Secondly, the program will provide students with significant, non-laboratory research relevant experiences in the form of lectures, discussions, field trips, and team building exercises. Topics for lectures and discussions will include experimental design and data analysis, research communication, literature searching and evaluation, the use of animals in research, ethics, animal welfare, and the responsible conduct of research. Specific lectures by local experts on gene therapy, transgenic animals, and stem cells will continue to be organized. Field trips will expose the scholars to the research environments of a primate center, medical research institute, medical school campus, and biomedical research companies in a technology center. Together these events will begin to provide the scholars with an understanding the diversity and depth of research opportunities available to them when they graduate. With the renewal of this grant, the BREVS program will continue with 8 NIH scholars for 5 additional years of support. This is consistent with our success, the increased interest in the program, and our continuing efforts to attract additional students from other CVMs. The intent of the program is to immerse the professional students as a group and individually into an exciting, science based problem solving environment which has at its center an identifiable research project.
| Reif, Kathryn E; Stout, Rhett W; Henry, Gretchen C et al. (2008) Prevalence and infection load dynamics of Rickettsia felis in actively feeding cat fleas. PLoS One 3:e2805 |
