Funds are requested for competitive renewal of a pre-doctoral ?Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases? Training Program to support four trainees. Training is provided by 21 Program faculty members. Emerging and tropical infectious diseases encompass the broad-based multidisciplinary sciences of microbiology, immunology, pathology, molecular biology, epidemiology, entomology, vertebrate zoology, biochemistry and cell biology, with this program focusing on ?vector-borne diseases.? The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston has made a major commitment to emerging and tropical diseases, including the development of the Galveston National Laboratory and the Center for Tropical Diseases and designation as a WHO Collaborating Center for Vaccine Research, Evaluation and Training for Emerging Infectious Diseases. These entities provide trainees of this program with a highly attractive array of research areas greatly relevant to emerging and tropical infectious diseases. In addition, students can undertake epidemiology studies overseas and internships at WHO. Thus, the trainees will have opportunities to undertake a variety of potential research topics from laboratory-based studies at UTMB to field studies overseas. The multidisciplinary program involves trainees from four graduate programs: Experimental Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, Human Pathophysiology & Translational Medicine, and Population Health Sciences. Formal course work is completed in the first two years, affording the trainee with a comprehensive background in infectious disease concepts; laboratory rotations familiarize the students with state-of-the-art technology and facilities, and orient them to potential future mentors. The students select mentors during the first and early part of the second year and prepare and defend a research dissertation topic in consultation with a research committee. The research is then conducted, culminating in the dissertation and defense. The pre-doctoral trainees have access to state- of-the-art facilities at UTMB including arthropod containment level (ACL)-2, ACL3, BSL3, and animal BSL3. They participate in multiple research seminar series, including the ?Infectious Diseases and Immunity Colloquium,? and they present their own research results in the above and other Research-in-Progress seminar series. Most of the former trainees embark on post-doctoral fellowships, and assume positions of responsibility at medical and graduate schools, colleges and as staff of research institutes and industry.
Emerging and tropical infectious diseases are important areas of public health. However, there are insufficient numbers of trained investigators to undertake research in this area, especially in the case of studies of vector- borne diseases. This program will address this shortage by training outstanding investigators of the future in a dynamic training environment.
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