The goal of this program is to provide predoctoral students as well as postdoctoral fellows with strong research training in specific basic science disciplines in combination with braod training in Parasitology. This proposal brings together eleven faculty members with established research programs in a variety of disciplines including cell biology, developmental biology, epidemiology, immunology and molecular biology all of whom conduct research on parasites or parasitic disease. Currently, these faculty participants provide research training for more than twenty predoctoral students and twenty-two post-doctoral fellows conducting parasite-related thesis research. However, many of our current students, if enrolled in graduate programs other than that administered by the Graduate Group in Parasitology, receive no formal training in Parasitology. In the case of predoctoral trainees in Penn's graduate programs in Cell and Molecular Biology or Immunology, most have been introduced to individual parasites as research tools rather than disease-causing organisms. On average, only one-half of the Penn students who perform research on parasites have taken a course in Parasitology. In recent years, parasitological research has been dramatically enhanced by an influx of highly specialized basic scientists. This is extremely positive. At the same time, there has been a dramatic reduction in the numbers of Parasitology courses taught nationally at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. We are concerned that many recent trainees lack a broad understanding of parasite biology and parasitic diseases which would enable them to identify important new areas of research as well as foster a commitment to a career in Parasitology or tropical medicine. Simply, stated, whereas many graduate programs seek to provide minimal parasitological training to strong basic scientists, our program would educate modern parasitologists in the truest sense - individuals equally skilled in modern basic biology and fully attuned to the exciting challenges offered by the great diversity of parasitic organisms.
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