This proposal requests continued funding for the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Disease (CMBD) Training Program at Northwestern University. The CMBD program supports comprehensive pre-doctoral graduate training in the life sciences, focusing on the cellular, molecular and biochemical mechanisms used in biological systems and targeted in diseases impacting human health. The CMBD has provided intradepartmental and interdisciplinary training opportunities for Northwestern life science graduate students for the past 20 years, and has been provided an important model for the reorganization of the life sciences graduate programs at Northwestern, from numerous small departmental-based programs to three integrated interdepartmental programs: the Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Graduate Program (IBIS) on the Evanston campus, the Integrated Graduate Program in the Life Sciences (IGP) on the Chicago campus, and the cross-campus Neuroscience Institute Graduate Program (NUIN). It is from these three programs that CMBD trainees are selected. Students are appointed at the beginning of their second year in graduate school, after they have completed their core coursework and joined their dissertation research laboratories, and they are typically supported for three years. As a University-wide training program with more than 60 faculty the CMBD has taken a leadership role in fostering communication and collaboration between trainees on the two campuses, and many collaborative interactions have arisen directly from the monthly student-oriented CMBD Research in Progress meetings. The CMBD also facilitates student interactions with scientists at other institutions, both by providing the opportunity for CMBD trainees to present their research at national meetings and conferences, and by bringing outstanding research scientists to Northwestern, through the CMBD seminar and symposia programs. The CMBD provides for training of students on the ethical conduct of research, and offers trainees the opportunity to participate in several outstanding career development forums at Northwestern University, most prominently the """"""""Bio-Opportunities"""""""" program. Graduates of the CMBD program have continued as successful and productive scientists at many other institutions and in diverse careers, contributing in important ways to cell and molecular biology research on a national level. For the last 10 years, 18 pre-doctoral trainee positions were approved for funding; this proposal requests funding for 21 students, reflecting considerable recent growth in the size and scope of the life sciences research and training programs at Northwestern University. ? ?
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