Training in Basic and Translational Digestive Sciences

ABSTRACT This application seeks to renew the NIH T32 Training in Basic and Translational Digestive Sciences that is currently in its 10th year. The University of Michigan has a superb history of training in gastrointestinal sciences over the last several decades, including both physician and non-physician scientists. In 2012 we initiated a training program that focused on training postdoctoral clinical fellows (MD, MD/PhD) together with predoctoral PhD candidate scientists interested in basic and translational digestive sciences. The Training Program includes 26 NIH-funded faculty mentors, including 12 clinically active physician scientists and 14 non- clinical faculty members, who come from clinical and basic science departments: Internal Medicine (13), Molecular & Integrative Physiology (6), Pathology (3), Microbiology & Immunology (3), and Surgery (1). Our program consolidates the major investigators who are conducting gastrointestinal basic and translational research at the University of Michigan Medical School into a strong core of mentors for the training of physician scientists and biomedical investigators interested in a research career in gastrointestinal science. Our group of 26 training program faculty are also members of the Michigan Digestive Diseases Core Center funded by NIH (P30 DK34933) since 1986 and bring a long history of collaboration and team science. Our T32 training program focuses on three thematic areas that provide exceptional cross-disciplinary collaboration amongst the participating faculty: 1) mechanisms of cell fate, plasticity, regeneration, and transformation; 2) systemic, cellular, and nutrient metabolism; 3) immune and inflammatory responses to host-environment-microbial interactions. Continued support is requested for 3 predoctoral trainees seeking PhDs in one of a number of disciplines that range from Physiology, Microbiology & Immunology, to Cell & Molecular Biology, and for 2 postdoctoral Gastroenterology Fellow trainees. The Program, co-directed by Chung Owyang, MD (Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine) and Linda Samuelson, PhD (Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology), includes a weekly seminar series in GI science (both internal and external speakers), trainee research presentations, training in responsible conduct of research and research reproducibility, and strong mentoring and career development guidance. Trainee research will be supported by more than $20 million of annual research funding awarded to the training faculty combined with substantial institutional support to directly support the trainees and the Program. The combined mass and diversity of available resources, our past training record, and the demonstrated excellence of the training faculty provide strong evidence that this program will continue to be highly successful in training the next generation of investigators interested in basic and translational digestive sciences.