This is a competitive renewal of a productive Training Program specializing in molecular toxicology and environmental disease. The long-term objective is to expertly prepare pre- and postdoctoral trainees for careers in biomedical research with an environmental health perspective. The 17-year success of this program is rooted in the continuous internal assessment of the program by the training faculty to assure the contemporary preparation of the trainees. Recent newly developed pre- and postdoctoral trainee training elements have arisen from the existing long-term partnership with the closely allied P30 Center for Research on Environmental Disease (CRED) and its recent establishment of the Environmental Health Research Career Development Program (EHRCDP). This program targeted to provide trainees and investigators with training and research resources to enhance collaborative environmental science research that integrates basic science approaches with that of clinical and/or population based research. The distinctive interdisciplinary vision of toxicology training program is strongly supported by the 17 participating faculty from three different basic science departments with research focused in one of three broad areas: mechanisms of environmental carcinogenesis;early life exposures &endocrine disruption;and diet, energy balance and environmental disease risk. The faculty has an outstanding history of collaboration and sharing of resources and laboratories that are well equipped with instrumentation for mechanistic cellular and molecular research. Pre-doctoral trainees are evaluated for admission into the Training Program on the basis of GPA (greater than or equal to 3.2), GRE score (greater than or equal to 1200, V &Q, greater than or equal to 1800, V, Q &A), letters of recommendation, and previous research experience. Trainees from various interdisciplinary departments will all participate in a core academic program in toxicology, ethics and communication skills for scientists. Evaluation of postdoctoral candidates is based upon the quality of their dissertation research and productivity, letters of recommendation, and a short proposal of the trainee's anticipated research project. Postdoctoral trainees are required to attend core professional development activities and ethics training. Trainee progress is formally monitored by the Directors and program advisory board via observation of student led seminars, coursework and a formal annual report on research progress. Taken together, the successful track record of The Training Program, the clear demand for the graduates, the demonstrated institutional commitment to the toxicology program via resources provided by the University of Texas at Austin, the CMCT and the CRED (combined 5 year total support of $307,195) coalesce to create an ideal setting for preparing pre-and postdoctoral students to address challenging contemporary research problems in molecular toxicology and environmental disease. BACKGROUND This application is for continued support for a program that has been in place for 18 years. It began in July of 1990 and was under the direction of Dr. Daniel Acosta. With the departure of Dr. Acosta from the University in 1996, Dr. Serrine Lau took over the directorship and expanded the program to include the Colleges of Pharmacy, Natural Science and the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park Research Division. In September of 2003, Dr. Lau left the University and Dr. Richburg became the Director of the Training Program. Training is focused on areas of endocrine disruption, environmental carcinogenesis and diet, energy balance and environmental disease risk. During the previous funding cycle, support was received for six pre-doctoral students. The current application requests support for six pre-doctoral students and three postdoctoral fellows. The faculty participants have changed due to the lack of active environmental health research or leaving the University for other positions. Notable changes include the loss of Drs. Lau, Monks and Kehrer. New faculty members that have been added are Drs. Van Den Berg, Bedford, and Mills.
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