The challenge of drug-resistant microbes requires that a new generation of basic scientists be broadly trained and educated in a triad of equally important sub-disciplines of anti-infective research: i.) mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR); ii.) antimicrobial discovery and development; and iii.) vaccinology to prevent or treat infections for which antimicrobial therapies are absent or becoming ineffectual due to AMR. The continued success of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Therapeutic Discovery Training Program (ARTDTP) of Emory University will help to ensure that a cadre of investigators will be available in the future to combat the global health problem of AMR. This need for future scientists in anti-infective research is an international priority given the reduced number of new, effective antimicrobials (antibiotics and antivirals) that have entered clinical practice in the past two decades and the difficulty often faced by physicians in treating certain infections because of AMR or the lack of effective therapeutics. Thus, the objective of the competitive renewal of ARTDTP is to provide high quality training to a select group of highly motivated graduate students for careers as independent investigators. Towards that end, ARTDTP will select five Ph.D. candidates yearly from four graduate programs within the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences and the Department of Chemistry for a two-year period of training in the areas of AMR and therapeutic discovery through chemical or immunologic-based strategies. ARTDTP faculty members who will serve as the pool of preceptors for trainees are highly collaborative and span the university with academic appointments in basic science and clinical departments of the School of Medicine and Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Educational training will consist of a course of study and programmatic events in sub-disciplines that emphasize research and education in AMR and drug discovery or vaccine development. ARTDTP will be governed by an Executive Committee and evaluated bi-yearly by an external Advisory Committee and by trainees after completion of their two-year program of training. Recruitment of under-represented minority students (URMS) from local and national colleges and universities will be a priority for ARTDTP and specific initiatives coupled with university-based programs will be employed to maximally train URMS. In addition to training in the sub-disciplines of anti- infective research ARTDTP trainees will receive education in the essential concepts of rigor, reproducibility and ethics that are needed for careers in the biological and biomedical fields. Upon completion of training and receipt of the Ph.D. degree, ARTDTP trainees will be ready to assume post-doctoral positions in academia, government or industry that continue their interests developed through the training experience provided by our T32 pre-doctoral program.
This over-arching goal of this T32 renewal grant is to provide support for pre-doctoral students at Emory University in order to help deliver the next generation of scientists needed to continue the fight against bacterial and viral pathogens. The training faculty work on a wide range of projects dealing with anti-infective resistance and drug or vaccine discovery and development with respect to major microbial pathogens and their associated diseases that impact public health, including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, influenza, sexually transmitted infections, pneumonia, meningitis, nosocomial and skin/soft tissue infections. By our continued training of students in the foundations of antimicrobial resistance, vaccinology and drug discovery the above-stated goal will be realized.
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