Training Program in Developmental, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (DSCRB)

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY Advances in regenerative medicine continue to transform the way we treat human diseases. To maintain our prominence in this important field, this application seeks to establish a new Training Program in Developmental, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (DSCRB). Despite tremendous interdisciplinary strength in this area at UW-Madison, there is no programmatic training in this field. Our Training Program, which is built around a recently inauguration curriculum that provides students a PhD Minor in DSCRB, is designed to fill this gap. The Minor requires 9 class credits, which are drawn from required and elective courses offered by the 8 PhD programs from which we draw trainees; therefore, students can complete the Minor without taking additional coursework beyond the requirements of their PhD programs. While the program’s administrative home is the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, our 55 trainers are from 17 departments and 6 schools/colleges at UW-Madison. Trainers are selected on the relevance of their research, their training and mentorship record, and the robustness of their research program, and more junior associate trainers are mentored by a more senior trainer. We seek to attract and train a cohort of 14 predoctoral trainees, matriculating 7 trainees per year for a two-year training program, with the goal of providing rigorous intellectual, technical, and interdisciplinary training. We will engage outstanding predoctoral trainees in the second semester of their first year, immediately after research rotations are complete. At this point, each student will join a trainer’s laboratory while they continue didactic training. To build cohesion, monthly Trainee Meetings, a student-led Journal Club, and a student mentorship program will bring together participants to share their research and interact. Career development activities and ethics training will be an important focus of these meetings, emphasizing reproducible and responsible conduct of research; ethical use of animal models, stem cells, fetal tissue, and human subjects in regenerative medicine research; and how to incorporate experimental rigor. The Training Program also leverages Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center (SCRMC) activities, including the SCRMC Fall Conference, and the Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium (international symposium sponsored jointly with Promega). These symposia offer our trainees opportunities to participate in meeting organizations, host external speakers, engage in career development activities, and present their research to a broad community. The PIs of this proposal have considerable combined experience in T32 training program administration and graduate education, and there is strong institutional support. The DSCRB Training Program will provide rigorous, cutting-edge training to produce the next generation of leaders in the field, enabling breakthroughs and empowering research that will lead to transformative regenerative therapies.