The Education and Training Unit to develop and implement modules for integrative training for graduate and postdoctoral students and junior investigators. ETU will accomplish its mission by leverage the rich training infrastructure available across its collaborating institutions to provide a diverse and engaging experience for trainees. This existing multidisciplinary training infrastructure - which encompasses disciplines as diverse as biology, chemistry, physics and engineering -will provide ETU with: (1) a pool of graduate and postdoctoral trainees, as well as junior and senior investigators who participate as trainees and as mentors;(2) training environments and laboratories for hands-on training;and (3) didactic coursework and internal seminars. ETU will establish a 'Biology, Oncology, Physical Science &Engineering (BiOPSE) track by which trainees can engage in a set of didactic activities, seminars, research rotations in MC-START laboratories and clinical rotations over 2-3 years. We will develop three different sub-tracks within BiOPSE: (1) predoctoral;(2) postdoctoral;(3) junior investigator;and (4) senior investigator. A BiOPSE trainee's course of study will include three (2-year trainees) or six (for 3-year trainees) 2-month research rotations and an optional 1-month clinical rotation. Primary mentors will help structure coursework for trainees to assure that didactic experiences in cancer biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, computing and engineering. The Banbury Conference Center will host a yearly course for all BiOPSE mentors, trainees, the MC-START Director, senior Co-I and other ETU training faculty. ETU also will utilize a distance learning approach that replies on a state-of-the-art cyberinfrastructure to stimulate development of lasting ties between institutions, schools, departments and centers with different cultures, and in order to enhance the triangulated communications between a trainee and two mentors, to communicate expectations of graduate students and expectations of the student/faculty relationship, and to centralize and make more broadly available critical resources;and mechanisms to exchange trainees among participating institutions.
The Education and Training Unit will plan modules for integrative training and will develop mechanisms to exchange trainees. The orienting principle is to develop a truly multidisciplinary course of training that provides intensive learning experiences in cancer biology, physical sciences and engineering, in order to facilitate the development of a new cadre of researcher with expertise that spans these disciplines.
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