This is a proposal for continued support for a multidisciplinary training program in Experimental Immunology at Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine. Thirteen well-funded faculty members with active research programs in molecular mechanisms of lymphocyte development and activation, cell transformation, viral immunity, mucosal immunity and immunologic disorders have been assembled from the Departments of Microbiology & Immunology; Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy; Medicine; Surgery; and Pathology; and the Oncology Institute. Dr. Katherine L. Knight, Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, is a highly regarded molecular immunologist with extensive academic training experience, and she will be the Training Program Director. A Training Program Committee and two outside consultants will assist Dr. Knight. The Training Program Committee will oversee the program, select predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees, and review the progress of the trainees. The outside consultants will provide general programmatic oversight. The predoctoral trainees will be primarily selected from the pool of Ph.D. graduate students matriculated through the Department of Microbiology & Immunology or the interdisciplinary Program in Molecular Biology after they have completed their first or second year of study. Trainees will take a series of didactic courses in basic and advanced topics in immunology, microbiology, virology, biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular genetics, including oral communication and scientific writing classes. In addition, they will take at least one Special Topics in Immunology course taught by the training program faculty. Postdoctoral trainees will receive their training in laboratories of the participating program faculty. All trainees and program faculty are expected to attend the weekly Immunology Journal Club and Research Seminar, as well as the Departmental Lab meeting. A strategy to recruit minority and economically underrepresented individuals is included in the proposal. All members of the program faculty are committed to excellence in both research and teaching.
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