Principal Investigator/Training Grant Director: Steve Dewhurst

Overview

The goal of this predoctoral program is to train predoctoral students for careers as outstanding research scientists in the field of HIV/AIDS. Specific objectives of the program include the following:

1. To develop an interactive, productive and exciting interdisciplinary environment in which predoctoral trainees obtain an outstanding education in the area of HIV/AIDS research. This will be achieved by integrating faculty from several different departments and disciplines.
2. To provide an enriched training and learning environment for students, with skills workshops, a mini-internship program, structured seminar programs and journal clubs, distinguished extramural speakers, exposure to clinical aspects of HIV/AIDS, and opportunities for training in mentoring. Students will also be trained to write manuscripts and grant applications.
3. To foster communication among trainees and faculty through the programs outlined above, and also by providing support for an annual retreat.
4. To support training efforts in two major emphasis areas:
   1. viral replication and reverse transcription
   2. viral pathogenesis.

The training faculty in this program comprise a highly interactive, dynamic and focused group of researchers with common interests and shared research goals. This will provide for a highly cohesive program with outstanding opportunities for interaction between different laboratories. Indeed, many of the investigators involved in this program already collaborate extensively. Furthermore, all investigators selected for this program have good extramural support and conduct research on HIV/AIDS or an HIV/AIDS-related area, and all faculty also have extensive experience in training both predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone to establish independent research careers.

Thematically, the participating faculty can be broadly divided into individuals with interests in viral replication and reverse transcription (Drs. Bambara, Demeter, Kim, Smith, Wedekind) and viral pathogenesis/immunology (Drs. Bidlack, Dewhurst, Gelbard, Jin, Maggirwar, Mosmann). Faculty expertise in the area of pathogenesis includes cell/molecular virology, neuropathogenesis, and immune aspects of HIV-1/AIDS. Thus, the program faculty cover a broad set of disciplines in which students may wish to train.

Crisp Entry