Training future leaders at the chemistry-biology interface

Abstract This proposal describes plans to continue a rigorous chemistry-biology interface (CBI) predoctoral training program that is student-centered and designed to provide trainees with core and cross training in chemistry and biological sciences, various abilities to push the frontier of biomedical research at the chemistry-biology interface, and the skills and awareness for diverse career paths. The program, which has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1996, also promotes interdisciplinary collaborative research across the Cornell campus. We request funds to support 10 predoctoral trainees. Each trainee will carry out his or her doctoral thesis research with one or more of 30 faculty mentors affiliated with seven participating units: Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Microbiology and Immunology, Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, Plant Biology, and Nutritional Sciences. Participating faculty have well-funded research programs in chemistry with strong connections to biology or vice versa. Students undergo training in areas that are broadly distributed over chemistry (synthetic organic, bioorganic, bioinorganic, biophysical, natural products, X-ray crystallography, metabolomics, and proteomics) and biology (protein structure and function, enzymology, immunology, signal transduction, chemotaxis, cell biology, host/pathogen interactions, and genomics). The CBI program continues to successfully merge the cultures of chemistry and biology with effective didactic and programmatic initiatives, including the adaptation of evidence-based training strategies and mentor training. CBI trainees take a core set of rigorous courses in both chemistry and biology and undergo responsible conduct of research training as well as rigor and reproducibility training. Trainees attend seminars in their core disciplines, participate together with faculty in a CBI seminar program, and organize an annual CBI symposium that features speakers from diverse career sectors. In addition to research training, our CBI training program puts career awareness and transferable skills training front and center. We design our career awareness and transferable skills workshops to address gaps between career skills needed and skills developed in PhD training that are reported in the literature and obtained through large-scale surveys. We require a sabbatical internship (or employer site visits in special cases) to allow trainees to explore different career options first-hand. These career training activities are designed based on the eight principles of experiential learning. The CBI training activities are accessible to students who are not financially supported by the CBI program and thus have a larger impact on Cornell campus. The program continues to produce a high-caliber cohort of trainees, who are increasingly more diverse due to our continued recruitment efforts, with strong publication records and career outcomes without increasing the time to degree.