This competitive renewal seeks funding for years 11-15 of a successful institutional training grant focusing on the science of organ and tissue transplantation. The Advanced Research Training in Transplantation Sciences (ARTTS) program at Emory University serves an area of medical science, transplantation biology, that is exceptionally rigorous, uniquely multidisciplinary, and in dire need of new students to take up the substantial momentum established in the past 20 years. The application seeks to fund 1 pre-doctoral and 2 post-doctoral trainees each year, and individual appointments will last for 2 years. It seeks to produce trainees that go on to establish independent research programs in the area of transplantation biology. Since its inception in 2006, the program has successfully recruited and trained 6 pre-doctoral trainees and 9 post-doctoral trainees. Of the 6 pre-doctoral ARTTS trainees who have completed training, 100% had a first author publication as a result of their graduate research, and the average numbers of first author and total publications for this group was 2.67 (range 1-4) and 5.17 (range 1-9), respectively. Of the 6 past post-doctoral ARTTS trainees who have completed training, 100% had a first author publication as a result of their post-doctoral research, and the average numbers of first author and total publications for this group was 1.9 (range 1-6) and 4.3 (range 2-8), respectively. Furthermore, 93.3% of ARTTS Program trainees are in research-intensive careers or are still in training. Thus, the program has been highly successful in recruiting and training the next generation of transplantation scientists. The current proposal represents the continued commitment of a team of highly productive, diverse, and actively collaborating junior and senior investigator/mentors, with an associated group of dedicated instructors, on a strong institutional foundation of fundamental academic excellence, to execute a unique and carefully designed training program that will continue to attract and retain highly motivated trainees to the transplantation field, and give them the unique tool set needed to influence the prevailing problems in the field. In the current application we propose to further enhance communication and collaboration between basic, translational, and clinical transplantation sciences by offering formal training in clinical and translational science analytics, bioinformatics, and clinical trial design. The ARTTS Program thus now offers an incredibly rich environment spanning powerful murine models in transplantation and viral immunology, an intensive translational program at the Yerkes National Primate Center, and markedly augmented opportunities in clinical trials and human immunology. The program continues to evolve to better attract highly qualified candidates from across the country representing a diversity of races and ethnicities, and importantly now offers a research focus on health disparities among minority groups in transplantation. Thus, the current offering is on the cutting edge of training in transplantation sciences, and undoubtedly will contribute to improving the future of transplantation research and practice, and optimizing both length and quality of life for transplant recipients.
Organ transplantation is the preferred therapy for end stage organ failure of the heart, intestine, kidney, liver, lung, and endocrine pancreas, as well as an emerging option for patients with limb, face, and other composite tissue loss and the number of patients awaiting (currently >120,000), receiving (>28,000/year) and living with (~420,000) organ transplants has approximately doubled in the past decade; however, even as the number of patients requiring innovative, scientifically sound solutions to transplant-related problems markedly increases, the number of scientists entering the field has decreased in recent years. Newly energized, transplant-focused training is required to perpetuate the pattern of discovery that has propelled the field of transplantation, and these training opportunities need to be developed cognizant of the unique clinical integration and multidisciplinary scientific and practice patterns characteristic of modern transplantation. Collaborative scientists and clinicians at the Emory Transplant Center are proposing an integrative, multi-disciplinary training program in transplantation biology (Advanced Research Training in Transplantation Sciences, ARTTS) to accomplish this goal.
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