Multidisciplinary Training Program in Basic Diabetes Research

ABSTRACT Despite impressive advances in diabetes care over the past three decades, the burden of diabetes and its complications continues to grow, underscoring the need to train the next generation of diabetes researchers to develop new avenues for prevention, treatment, and cure of diabetes. The primary goal of this grant is to train PhD basic scientists for careers in diabetes research. The training includes formalized multidisciplinary learning, along with mentorship and laboratory research experiences required to develop a deep understanding of the molecular aspects of diabetes. This training program is embedded within the rich intellectual environment of the University of Michigan, which includes a highly collegial and interdisciplinary diabetes research community, and excellent core resources for biomedical research. The training program builds on the remarkable expertise of preceptors, which fall into seven major interest groups – islet biology and autoimmune diabetes, hypothalamic regulation of metabolism, mechanisms of insulin resistance and metabolic control in liver, adipose tissues and muscle, diabetes complications, and therapeutics. The program includes training in individual research laboratories and is supplemented by a core curriculum - with lectures on molecular pathogenesis of diabetes, responsible conduct of research, and a course in either bioinformatics, entrepreneurship, and/or grant writing. In addition, the trainees attend a variety of interdisciplinary seminars, grant writing workshops, career strategy workshops, and meet with visiting speakers. The director mentors the trainees in individual and small group sessions. This training is designed to provide the necessary tools for transition to independence. This program includes 42 successful mentors in a highly collaborative environment, all with stable extramural funding. The mentors are diverse in their area of specialty, with appointments in Schools of Kinesiology, Literature Sciences & Arts, Engineering, and many departments and divisions within the School of Medicine. This program will provide a significant complement for the missions of our NIH-funded Diabetes Research Center, Nutrition and Obesity Research Center, and Caswell Diabetes Institute. This training program will be administered through the Division of Metabolism Endocrinology & Diabetes and will be overseen by an executive committee comprising the Principal Investigator and other senior investigators with strong mentoring track records.