No organ or tissue can be sustained without a viable vasculature. Hence, the study of vascular remodeling and regeneration, both pathological and physiological, is of central importance for understanding disease processes from the perspective(s) of initiation, prevention, and/or cure. Recognizing that vascular biology is at the heart of biomedical research, both present and future, we plan to ensure the existence of a cadre of competent vascular scientists with a strong background in organ biology/pathology and imaging techniques by implementing a unique, cross-campus pre-doctoral fellow training program for students who have elected to do their thesis work on subjects related to vascular remodeling and regeneration. Although housed within an established graduate program (Cellular and Molecular Pathology) in the School of Medicine (SOM), our Angiopathy Training Program (ATP) will be open to students from other graduate programs (Cell Biology, Engineering, etc) at the University of Pittsburgh (UOP). Our goal of comprehensively training committed vascular biologists (3 funded students admitted/year, 2 vears funding) will be met through a combination of required and elective courses, dedicated resources, and an interactive training faculty comprised of basic scientists, clinicians, and physician-scientists. The multi-faceted ATP curriculum consists of established courses from within the various graduate programs and emphasizes organ biology, angiogenesis, and imaging, while providing basics such as statistics, ethics, and grant writing. A dedicated training facility for microscopy has been designated for our use by the Center for Biologic Imaging, with resources for clinical imaging available to students through the SOM. Finally, ONE OF THE PIs HEADS a Center for Vascular Remodeling and Regeneration (CVRR), recently established at the UOP, uniting a consortium of faculty from multiple University schools (Medicine, Public Health, etc.) who commonly study and/or teach diverse aspects of vascular biology in basic and/or clinical venues. Our ATP faculty has been carefully selected from CVRR participants (MDs, PhDs, MD/PhDs) who we believe can best recruit, train, and/or directly mentor students for this program. We believe that a unified effort under the ATP, via maximized usage of available resources, will ensure the future of biomedical science by training competent, vascular-centric scientists
The field of vascular biology is critical for understanding all types of disease as no organ can be sustained without a viable vasculature. This program will recruit and train vascular scientists for our future, by providing them with a substantial background in organ biology/pathology in addition to their training in the vasculature.
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