The need to train scientists to conduct fungal research is greater than ever. Worldwide estimates of human fungal disease include over a billion people with invasive, allergic, or chronic fungal diseases. Plant diseases, caused predominantly by fungi, are estimated to reduce global food yields by 20-40%. These striking statistics showcase the immense human and financial tolls imparted by fungal diseases. Our objective is to develop molecular mycology scientists trained in the latest methods of laboratory, translational, or clinical research who are fully prepared to pursue independent research careers investigating the many aspects of fungal diseases. The Tri-Institutional Molecular Mycology and Pathogenesis Training Program (Tri-I MMPTP) has been funded since 2003 to recruit, support, and train promising postdoctoral scientists and physicians to develop productive research careers. It is the only mycology-focused postdoctoral training program in existence, and it has been highly successful in training the next generation of outstanding scientists. The tremendous productivity of this training program is predicated on its unique design, leveraging the proximity of three prominent research universities: Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University. These institutions offer arguably the highest geographic concentration of researchers who study fungi in the country. The Tri-I MMPTP has trained or is currently training a total of 43 post-doctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to lead independent NIH-funded laboratories, lead government research efforts, work in industry on cutting-edge projects, and assume positions of leadership in academia, government, and industry. At many institutions, faculty who investigate medical fungi have little contact with geneticists who work on model fungi, biochemists who study cellular mechanisms, or infectious diseases physicians who care for immunocompromised patients. Similarly, those who study phytopathogens are intellectually, and often physically, removed from biomedical researchers. A proven concept underlying our multidisciplinary interaction is that clinical and basic researchers, and plant and animal mycologists, together discover new approaches that are mutually beneficial. With this integrated design, our trainees become broadly knowledgeable, versatile, and more attractive to prospective employers. Several outstanding training themes are responsible for our continued success: careful selection from a large pool of competitive applicants, promotion of diversity (including 3 of 7 current trainees from under-represented backgrounds), and centralized courses on scientific and grant writing. These opportunities are all connected through trainee Individual Research Advisory Committees. At the core is our dedicated mentorship, including a pathway to independence mentality and a formalized continued mentorship program for three years after program completion. Our interconnected strategy has generated highly successful scientists for 15 years, and our constant programmatic updates via trainee and mentor feedback have developed exciting approaches to fill the need for molecular mycologists.
Fungi are a vast and biologically diverse group of organisms that affect all of our lives in many ways. They are important causes of human and crop diseases, affecting literally billions of lives each year. Most of these devastating effects occur through the loss of life of infected and immunocompromised patients, as well as loss of crop yield throughout the world. Additionally, fungi are also important scientific models to better understand basic physiology in higher organisms, such as man. In this program, we are training the next generation of scientists to explore fungi in many areas of biological investigation, both as infectious agents as well as model systems to understand genetic disorders and evolution.
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