MCP NIH Training Grant Information

Mission and objectives of the program:  Support from the NIH Training Grant has been used to promote predoctoral training in modern pharmacology by integrating the basic principles of pharmacology using an interdisciplinary approach. The training emphasis is on molecular, biochemical, transgenic model systems, and cellular approaches that both modify and elucidate molecular interactions and signaling pathways that govern the behavior of cells and organisms.  Such interactions and signals may originate at the cell surface, within the cytoplasm and its constituent organelles, or in the nucleus; they may involve effector molecules as diverse as ions, cyclic nucleotides, lipid messengers, proteins (receptors, enzymes, growth factors), complex carbohydrates, and nucleic acids. The signals may take the form of direct activating events, such as activation of kinases/phosphatases, or events such as the targeting of effector molecules, such as enzymes that alter transcriptional events. The training in modification of these pathways may focus on agonist/antagonist interactions with receptors, chemical inhibitors, or genetic mechanisms of modulating signaling pathways from C. elegans to man. The goal is to provide training in molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying and composing modern pharmacology. The trainees also receive didactic training in medical pharmacology and therapeutics with an emphasis on understanding current knowledge underpinning pharmacokinetics and the use of drugs to treat human disease and the basics of drug development.

Training focus:  The students awarded stipends will adhere to the standards, curriculum, and administrative structure of the Graduate Program as a whole and will choose elective courses and research projects that provide training in molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying modern pharmacology.  The research interests of the trainers have led us to establish four focal areas of research training.  These focal areas of research are: Cancer Pharmacology, Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Neuropharmacology, and Biochemical, Endocrine, and organismal Pharmacology. These four focal areas are bound together with the Program focus in MCP and research in cellular signaling mechanisms.  Each of the focal areas has trainers and trainees who are highly interactive and collaborate and/or have joint lab meetings and journal clubs on a regular basis.

TRAINEE CANDIDATES

Admissions: The majority of trainees will be selected from students who apply to the Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology.  This umbrella Program attracts students from across the United States and the world. A lesser but important source will be students with interests in pharmacology who apply to other Campus Graduate Programs, such as Cell and Molecular Biology, Oncology, Biomolecular Chemistry, Physiology, Biochemistry, Genetics, or Chemistry and who choose to work in a Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Program trainer's laboratory and fulfill the training requirements of the Program (see discussion below). A substantial source of students will be from the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) as this cohort of students fulfill key course requirements in their M.D./Ph.D. curriculum. As described earlier, for the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Graduate Program, the Admissions Committee screens the applicants. Criteria for admission are performance on GRE Exams, GPAs, letters of recommendation, research experience, the student's statement of purpose, and the interview. Trainees who accept an offer of admission rotate through at least three or four laboratories during their first year and choose a major professor with whom to study.

Our intent in renewing this award is to support the training of a portion of the students in the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Graduate Program. The Graduate Program with 43 active faculty, plan to admit students for a class size of about ~12 students per year for a total student group of 60-65 running average. This targeted class size is statistically less then half the number of openings in Program faculty laboratories, insuring that all of the students are placed in active, well-funded laboratories. We are requesting stipends that will fund about 20% of these students. The Training Grant will be used as a recruiting tool to fund the most excellent applicants. The majority of students will be funded for a two-year period; this is an increase from the current one year of funding. A small fraction of the training positions will be awarded for three years to the most excellent student applicants to the MCP Program. For these candidates, there will be matching funding with the WARF Foundation or University Distinguished Fellowships. This will allow us to fund the very best students for the majority of their degree. In addition, the Medical School and Program awards a set named Prizes to the very best students, and these are used as recruiting tools.  

Some students who excel after matriculating in the Program will be nominated for support. For these students, the primary considerations on the part of the Fellowships Committee will be the relevance of the nominee's proposed training project to the stated mission of the Training Grant, academic excellence, and research progress exemplified by publication of his/her research results. About half of the TG positions have been awarded to senior students.

The discipline of Pharmacology requires expertise in many other disciplines. Thus, students who have entered a Campus Graduate Program and choose to work in the laboratory of a Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Program trainer on a pharmacology project will be eligible for funding by this Training Grant. These students must have a demonstrated strong interest in pharmacology. Funding of these students will be on a highly competitive basis and will represent a fraction of the total supported trainees at any time. These trainees will be required to fulfill the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Graduate Program course requirements and, in particular, the requirement to attend the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Graduate Program Seminar Series. Those students who come from different Graduate Programs will contribute to the cross fertilization that is important, in particular, to a Pharmacology Graduate Program. The total number of students beginning studies in the laboratories of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology trainers from these Programs averages greater then 15 per year (total pool of 70 students). Their GPAs have averaged >3.5 and GRE scores >70%. The M.D./Ph.D. Program at Wisconsin is growing and attracting an outstanding group of students. The Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) matriculates 10 students a year, and on average ~40% of these students will matriculate in MCP faculty laboratories; the great majority of those students will choose the MCP Program as their graduate degree, or 2-4 students per year.