The Institutional Training Program described in this proposal is dedicated to the training of highly motivated pre-doctoral students and Ph.D. and M.D. graduates with a commitment to a research and teaching career in academic immunology. Major program strengths include the broad base of research interests in immunology provided by experienced leadership and faculty, a record of successfully training academicians, and an engaged and productive group of current and potential trainees that includes a number of underrepresented minorities. Basic, translational, and clinical research opportunities are available in allergy, autoimmunity, cancer immunology, clinical and translational immunology, fundamental immunology, host defense, immunodeficiency, immunogenetics, inflammation, mucosal immunology, neuroimmunology, and transplantation. Ten predoctoral trainees are selected from among students already enrolled in one of three interdisciplinary programs: Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, Integrated Biomedical Sciences, and the UAB Medical Scientist Training Program. All will have successfully completed their first year of didactic graduate study. Their training will last up to five years. Five postdoctoral trainees are selected among individuals with a M.D., Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree on the basis of prior performance, letters of recommendation, and personal interviews. Their training will last up to three years. Candidates will include recent Ph.D. or M.D. graduates and physicians who have completed residency or fellowship training. Training is carried out in modern, well-equipped laboratories, offices, and teaching facilities provided by the University. Special research facilities include modern immunocytometry equipment, imaging core, electron microscope laboratory, transgenic mouse facility, and core facilities for oligonucleotide synthesis, nucleic acid sequencing, protein sequencing, microarray, and hybridomas. Relevance to Public Health: Because in addition to their research programs 18 of the 38 mentors are involved in the care of patients with immunologic diseases, the program provides an interface between basic, translational, and clinical immunology. The primary focus is on preparing trainees to elucidate pathogenetic mechanisms for diseases of immune etiology. Mentors have access to the Hospitals and Clinics of the University Medical Center. Opportunities directly related to human diseases are available in autoimmune diseases, vaccine development, immunodeficiencies, neoplastic diseases, immune-complex diseases, host-defense defects, dental caries, microbial pathogenesis, and transplantation immunology.
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