The Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) at the University of Wisconsin- Madison seeks to train a new cadre of researchers who use cross- disciplinary approaches from the biological-physical-computational science interface to solve biomedical problems. The BTP is a multi- dimensional program that builds on existing disciplinary excellence across 5 colleges while providing trainees a common set of cross- disciplinary experiences. BTP trainees are admitted to and fulfill the requirements of leading Ph.D. programs such as Bacteriology, Biochemistry, Biomolecular Chemistry, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Pharmacy. The rich history of excellence within these core graduate programs prepares BTP trainees to become future leaders in their respective fields. The common set of cross-disciplinary experiences that distinguished BTP trainees from their peers including a biotechnology oriented minor course program, regular interactions with a BTP minor professor from another discipline, participation in a biotechnology student seminar program, and an industrial internship. These common experiences ensure that BTP trainees will be conversant in the molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry/physiology principles that will be required to function as cross-disciplinary scientists and engineers in the 21st century. UW-Madison is the proud sponsor of the largest BTP in the country, with 33 NIH-funded trainees. In its 9 year history, the BTP has trained 109 Ph.D. students who worked with 68 different faculty in 20 Ph.D. programs. As student interest in the BTP has continued to grow, the opportunities for trainees to partake of all BTP activities is increasingly constrained. Consequently, we are requesting 3 more NIH- funded positions in each of the next 3 years so there will be a total of 42 BTP trainees at steady-state. Increased NIH support will permit more high-quality students to partake of BTP activities and expand the breadth of cross-disciplinary interactions across campus. This expansion of interactions among students and faculty in the biomedical research community will increase the ability of BTP trainees to capitalize on recent technological advances and solve emerging problems at the biological-physical-computational science interface.
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