Fogarty Training Program:
This program recruits PhD or MD graduates from Asian institutions to conduct research within the Center for Research in Contraceptive and Reproductive Health. The Center is currently approved for Post-Doctoral Fellows from China, India, Indonesia and Korea.
The individual will be required to submit:
- CV (curriculum vitae),
- three references, and
- commitment to take knowledge back to their home country for use in independent scientific careers in reproductive research and contraceptive development.
Mellon Training Program:
The training program will provide interdisciplinary training in the skills required
- to conduct fundamental basic research in the fields of spermatogenesis, oogenesis and fertilization and apply this knowledge to contraceptive drug and vaccine discovery,
- to integrate basic research with applied research on the direct path to product development, and
- to develop and refine skills in technology transfer, including establishing patent positions, interfacing with regulatory agencies, and establishing industrial sponsorships and patent licensing.
The training program is founded on the thesis that leaders in the field of new contraceptive development must master a range of technical and administrative skills which span disciplines of molecular and cell biology, reproductive biology, immunology, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, chemical engineering, fundamentals of patent law, and FDA regulation, including good laboratory practices and standard operation procedures.
The program seeks to train postdoctoral fellows and young faculty with Ph.D. and/or MD degrees to an advanced level of competency in several of the disciplines noted so that they will assume leadership roles in the field of contraceptive development. The program will provide trainees with an independent research experience at the frontier of the research in gene regulation, drug target discovery and immunocontraception. Trainees will work in close association with a primary preceptor and they will be encouraged to focus their energy on important unanswered questions. The close interactions with the primary faculty preceptor will provide each trainee with a mentor who will be responsible for guiding the trainee's technical and conceptual development as an independent investigator. Trainees will be encouraged to interact and collaborate with other faculty to exploit the interdisciplinary resources of the training faculty in basic life sciences as well as allied disciplines of chemical engineering, obstetrics and gynecology and urology.
The training program will occur in the context of the Center for Research in Contraceptive and Reproductive Health, a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional Center. Emphasis will be placed on identifying trainees with a commitment to pursuing careers in contraceptive development and a willingness to undertake 2-3 years of specialized training. Qualified individuals from foreign countries, particularly developing countries will be sought. The preceptor group is particularly cognizant of the need for training not only Ph.D.s but the need to train MDs in reproductive medicine for leadership roles in contraceptive development, pre-clinical and clinical testing, and efforts to recruit individuals with MD degrees will be undertaken.
Proposed preceptors: CJ Flickinger, E Goldberg, JC Herr, SS Howards, DJ Kirwan, M O'Rand,
P Reddi, K Tung, P. Visconti, S. Coonrod, and J. White.
Summer Research Internship Program:
The Summer Research Internship Program in Reproductive Biology (SRIPRB) is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and has been ongoing at the University of Virginia School of Medicine since 1996. The program offers opportunities to qualified undergraduates who are considering a possible career in biomedical research in the area of reproductive biology. The program targets under-represented minority students in their junior and senior college undergraduate years. The goals of the program are to expose undergraduate students to laboratory research, to familiarize students with the opportunities that exist for careers in reproductive biology and hopefully to entice at least some of them to pursue a research career in this exciting area.
The program runs for ten weeks each summer and includes three major components.
- A hands-on research program with a faculty member where the student will be exposed to contemporary methods and problems in research in reproduction.
- A series of workshops in which students are exposed to a variety of advanced research techniques that they are unlikely to see in individual laboratories. Past workshops have included the use of transmission and scanning electron microscopy, use of mass spectrometry to determine protein mass and amino acid sequence, examination of control of microcirculatory blood flow and how this is altered in disease states such as sickle-cell anemia, use of oocyte systems for expression cloning, and use of fluorescence- activated cell sorter.
- The third component is a Distinguished Lecture Series in which the students are exposed to a wide variety of research topics through seminars presented by internationally recognized scientists. The lecture includes a number of under-represented minority individuals who are recognized leaders in their respective disciplines.
This summer research internship opportunity targets, but is not limited to, underrepresented American undergraduates in their sophomore, junior and senior years. Please note that the program in reproductive biology is part of a larger program held at the University of Virginia. Please specify reproductive biology when filling out the application to be matched with a faculty mentor in the reproductive biology area. Students will participate in a one on one laboratory research experience and will also participate in workshops and seminars during the term. The program is scheduled for 10 consecutive weeks beginning the first week of June. A stipend of approximately $3,000 (may vary from year to year) plus housing and transportation are provided. To be considered, all application materials must be submitted by March 1. If you have further questions, please contact the Graduate Programs Office of the University of Virginia at 434-924-2181 or you may e-mail medgpo26@virginia.edu.
To apply for this program, please fill out the application form and be sure to specify your interest in reproductive biology.
NIH Program:
More about this later. |