This application for a postgraduate research training program in Cellular and Molecular Microbiology is submitted by a group of investigators who are on the faculty of Vanderbilt University (VU) and Meharry Medical College (MMC). The training program grew out of a coalescence of two disciplines, molecular microbiology and cell biology, and is an attempt to bring together many basic scientists at VU and MMC who work in areas germane to a new field of cellular microbiology and are committed to training postdoctoral fellows to be supported by the Institutional NRSA. The novel aspects of the training program consist of an emphasis on the state of the art cell biology as applied to the study of model organisms in the following areas: (i) Microbial Adhesion; (ii) Cytoskeleton and Cytokinesis; (iii) Endocytosis/Lysosomal Pathway; (iv) Signal Transduction/Gene Transcription; (v) RNA Binding Proteins; (vi) Proteosomes-ER-Golgi Pathway; (vii) Apoptosis and Mitochondrial Function; (viii) Virus-Cell Interaction; (ix) Molecular Genetics of Recombination, Mutations, and Microbial Diversity; and (x) New Technologies of Cell Imaging, Subcellular Targeting, and Proteomics. The postdoctoral trainees will be selected by the Steering Committee from PhD and/or MD/PhD graduates who wish to specialize in Cellular Microbiology and who apply directly to the Program as well as those nominated by the faculty preceptors. Funds are also requested for five summer students. Special attention has been paid to a stringent selection process, adequate mentoring by excellent preceptors including an innovative dual mentoring system, promoting scientific interactions between participating laboratories, and career counseling. Cumulatively, this new program will take full advantage of the superb resources at VU and MMC in terms of faculty and available trainees to provide an optimally effective and innovative postgraduate training in the new field of cellular microbiology.
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