Ion channels and transporter proteins are ubiquitous molecules that serve a variety of important physiological functions, provide targets for many types of pharmacological agents, and are encoded by genes that can be the basis for inherited diseases affecting the nervous system and other tissues. This proposal describes a new Training Program in Ion Channel and Transporter Biology that will strive to provide multidisciplinary research training for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral basic scientists and physicianscientists. This highly focused training program will involve 18 NIH-funded mentors in 7 different academic departments at Vanderbilt University with strong records of accomplishments in the ion channel and transporter field, and with a deep commitment to training students and postdoctoral fellows. Based on the breadth of research expertise of the training faculty, trainees can be expected to gain experiences in one or more of the following disciplines: physiology, pharmacology, neuroscience, molecular biology, structural biology, and genetics. Pre-doctoral students will be recruited from a national pool of applicants who apply for graduate studies in our Interdisciplinary Graduate and Medical Scientist Training Programs. Additional pre-doctoral students may emerge from our Medical Scholars Program, an innovative research leave program in the Vanderbilt Medical School. Post-doctoral trainees will be selected from the pool of applicants that apply to preceptor laboratories as well as physicianscientist applicants from various clinical training programs at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In addition to intensive research experiences, both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees will have rigorous didactic course requirements, and have formal mentoring and career guidance. The goal of the training program is to develop basic scientists and physicianscientists with strong commitments to academic biomedical research in ion channel and transporter biology especially in areas with direct relevance to human health and disease.
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