Application is made for continued funding of a long-standing training program associated with the Center in Molecular Toxicology at Vanderbilt University. Funds are requested to support ten predoctoral (Ph.D. candidates) and six postdoctoral (already having a Ph.D., M.D., D.V.M., etc.) trainees plus two summer medical students. The program emphasizes molecular aspects of toxicology and is interdisciplinary. The faculty is drawn from individuals with appointments in Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Pathology, and Pharmacology, all of whom train postdoctoral fellows. Graduate students in the program obtain degrees through Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Chemistry, Pathology, or Pharmacology. Considerable emphasis is placed upon research rotations and participation in seminars, journal clubs, and joint research meetings. There is also much opportunity for learning operation and application of instrumental systems in research. Graduate students are recruited to the Department of Chemistry through departmental mechanisms, with assistance from the Center. In the other four (biomedical) departments, graduate students are initially recruited into the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, where they spend the first 9 months in a relatively common core curriculum and do three laboratory rotations. In the current system, graduate students are recruited into Toxicology from these first year pools (the initial year is supported by the institution). Both predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees are selected by the Center's Steering Committee, with guidelines to insure distribution of trainees and monitoring of progress. Another aspect of this grant is the summer medical student training program, with students drawn from both the classes at Vanderbilt and Meharry Medical College. The list of preceptors includes fourteen faculty who are either Center Investigators or are associated with the Center in some other way. Major research areas in the Center include enzymatic oxidation and conjugation, oxidative damage, DNA damage and mechanisms of mutagenesis, regulation of gene expression, and environmental pathology. Molecular toxicology is recognized as a strong program, and the institution has continued its commitment to making Vanderbilt a leading center for training in this area.
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