Multidisciplinary Research Training in Digestive Physiology and Diseases

This application requests five years of funding for a T32 program to support multidisciplinary research training in digestive physiology and diseases at the University of California San Diego. The program has the overall objective to train new investigators at the postdoctoral level in the successful conduct of research in digestive physiology, health and diseases, with a particular focus on the impact of the microbiome and host-microbial interactions on the digestive system and its diseases. The program will provide financial and educational support to five postdoctoral trainees per year for two years each to focus intensely on research training and education. The training objectives will be achieved by a combination of mentored research, individualized coursework, and regular educational events for team building and academic skill acquisition. Trainees with MD or PhD doctorate degrees will be placed with highly experienced mentors and provided with financial, intellectual and administrative support for conducting cutting-edge research projects that will build their research skills and records needed for a successful career as researchers and independent investigators in academia or industry. Formal coursework will advance critical analytical and interpretational skills that match the research interests and career aspirations of the trainees, and promote the highest levels of biomedical research ethics and rigor and transparency in study design and conduct for enhancing research reproducibility. Additional educational events will broaden trainee understanding of digestive physiology and diseases and advanced research technologies, and academic survival skills. These events will also help to build a cohesive community of MD and PhD researchers with the common goal of promoting digestive health and alleviating the burden of digestive diseases. The program has recruited an experienced group of 32 outstanding faculty mentors with full representation of all faculty stages and educational backgrounds. Faculty members have extensive research experience in digestive physiology, microbiome studies, host-microbial interactions, and digestive diseases, and conduct research across the full spectrum of basic, translational and clinical studies. The Program faculty members have exceptional scholarly productivity, well-funded research programs with an average of $910,943 in direct annual grant support per faculty member, principled research conduct, and an outstanding history of facilitating research training. The program will be coordinated by an experienced team of Director and Co-Director with complementary research and administrative expertise, and a Program Administrator and Executive Committee. Internal and External Advisory Committees will provide individual advice to trainees and guidance to the program leadership on trainee selection, operational issues, outcomes and perspectives on national trends in digestive physiology and diseases. Taken together, the proposed T32 training program will foster the development of the next generation of investigators to advance the understanding, diagnostics, therapy and prevention of digestive diseases in the community.