This revised proposal requests support for the long-standing pre- and postdoctoral Training in Virology T32 at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the past 25 years of support hundreds of PhD and postdoctoral trainees have been mentored in viral research by our faculty. This training program includes 17 laboratories directed by well- established and well-funded investigators at the University of Pennsylvania, Wistar Institute, and CHOP selected from over 30 NIH-funded laboratories studying viruses on the contiguous campus that houses these institutions. New trainers strengthen an already outstanding cadre of mentors and attest to the vibrant nature of the program. The primary goal of the Virology Program is to identify, mentor and develop the careers of future leaders dedicated to biomedical research in the field of virology. Toward this end, we crafted a well-organized training program that includes outstanding and committed mentors, an exceptional pool of candidates, outstanding institutional support and facilities, and a well described set of metrics to gauge success. Training activities include formal coursework in virology and immunology, an invited scientist speaker series, a student and postdoc research in progress seminar, individualized development plans for all trainees and a career development/Alumni day. A UPenn Virology LinkedIn group is used to track and network with former trainees. Incoming PhD students have workshops on fellowship preparation. In response to the review, a new Grant Proposal Success peer-to-peer grant review program was developed for postdocs and a new mentoring plan is in place for postdocs. A new podcast/video initiative was initiated by the trainees. Penn provides direct and tangible institutional commitment to training by supporting predoctoral trainees for their first 21 months of graduate school and funding the Biomedical Postdoctoral Programs office. Over the past 15-year period, this Virology T32 directly supported 61 trainees who worked in the labs of 27 different trainers including 39 predoctoral trainees (21 men, 18 women,13% URM) and 22 postdoctoral fellows (12 women, 10 men, 23% URM). 95% of the PhD students completed their degree and 90% of pre and postdoc trainees who have completed training remain in research related careers. To maintain this established virology training program, we propose continuing support of 3 predoctoral and 2 postdoctoral trainees.
Viral diseases pose an important public health problem. This application is for renewal for a long-standing Training Program in Virology based at the University of Pennsylvania that supports the development of 3 predoctoral and 2 Ph.D. postdoctoral trainees per year in one of 17 laboratories directed by well-established virologists. The training experience will enable a talented group of trainees to further our understanding of viral diseases, to explore the host-virus interaction and to develop viruses as therapeutic tools.
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