This revised application for a comprehensive Research Training Program in Bone Biology and Disease at UAB offers the rigorous interdisciplinary education required for the development of independent research scientists in this field. The Training Program is based in the UAB Center for Metabolic Bone Disease (Director: J. McDonald, M.D.), which has been funded as 1 of 5 national Research Core Centers (P30). The 25 faculty members of the Training Program have been selected based on their complementary research expertise in clinical and basic research, dynamic research programs, and training records. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the Program, the faculty has defined collaborative projects (58) that are available immediately and can be used in recruitment and guidance. Basic research projects include the use of approaches and technologies in the analysis of the basic biology of bone loss; osteoporosis, other metabolic bone diseases, and glucocorticoid induced bone loss; periodontal disease; cancer metastatic to bone; and biomaterials/implant research. The clinical research projects (epidemiology, prevention, outcomes, and effectiveness studies; development of diagnostics; and clinical trials) exploit the participation of clinical faculty in long term, multi institutional studies, including geriatric and pediatric populations. The Training Program will be administered by Dr. McDonald (Chair: Pathology) assisted by two Associate Directors (T. Lincoln, Ph.D.; L. Moreland, M.D.), who will be responsible for development of individual training plans, integration of research and didactic components, and oversight of formal requirements, and an Advisory Committee (M. Jeffcoat, D.M.D., L. Lucas, Ph.D., R. Mayne, Ph.D., J. Murphy Ulrich, Ph.D., K. Saag, M.D.), who will be responsible for recruitment, competitive review of formal applications, and oversight of trainees progress. Trainees in basic research will be required to take all or part of the Integrative Biomedical Sciences Program (Director: Lincoln), which provides organ and cell based basic science training necessary for transition from methods driven molecular biology and genetics analyses into clinically relevant, problem based studies. The K30 Translational Research Program (PI: Moreland) provides clinical investigators with the intellectual and administrative skills essential for the design and accomplishment of informative clinical studies and trials, together with a background in state of the art basic science knowledge. Funding is requested for three predoctoral and three postdoctoral trainees. Predoctoral trainees will be enrolled in the IBS, Biomedical Engineering, Cell and Molecular Biology, or M.D./Ph.D. Graduate Programs at UAB.
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