This application constitutes the first renewal of the NIAAA Pre and Postdoctoral Training Program that is specifically designed to promote the training in cellular and molecular research on how alcohol sensitizes and primes the liver and pancreas for the development of alcoholic liver and pancreas diseases (ALPD). Our program is integrated into the NIAAA Alcohol Research Center: USC-UCLA Research Center for Alcoholic Liver and Pancreatic Diseases that is now in the second cycle of funding as of January 2004. The Center's interactive infrastructure and supportive mechanisms are conducive to providing an ideal training environment for the program. In addition to laboratory training, the Program provides didactic courses including a 2-unit seminar course (Path575), lectures on liver and pancreatic histology (INT550), lectures on pathogenesis and pathophysiology of ALPD (INT551), and a course in Scientific Ethics (INTD500) offered at USC. The trainee's progress is monitored in the Progress Report Meeting held once or twice yearly. In this meeting, the trainees and the Center's pilot project investigators update their progresses that are evaluated by the Center's Executive Committee. In the Center's Annual Symposium, the trainees make more formal presentations and their individual training status and the program as a whole are evaluated by the External Scientific Advisory Board members. Of 12 slots requested originally, 11 slots have been filled including one predoctoral position. Of 7 trainees who have completed the training to date, three have been or will be promoted to Assistant Professor. Two of them have obtained pilot project funds to prepare for their independent research in the field of alcoholic liver disease. A total of 11 peer-review articles have been published, in press, or accepted for publication for the studies in which the 7 past trainees were involved. In the proposed renewal, we request 12 postdoctoral and 2 predoctoral slots to continue our pursuit for the comprehensive and cutting-edge training to generate competent and innovative young scientists in the field of ALPD.
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