The Beirne Carter Center for Immunology Research and the NIH-funded Immunology Training Program
play an integral role in the Infectious Diseases Training Program. The PI of the Infectious Diseases Program, Dr. Petri, is a member of the steering committee of the Immunology Training Program and is a member of the Center. The Immunology Center Director and PI of the Immunology Training Grant, Dr. Braciale, is a mentor on the Infectious Diseases Training Grant. The close interaction of the Center with our Program highlights the importance that we place on the interface of Immunology with Infectious Diseases. The Beirne Carter Center is located in 8,000 square feet of modern space in Medical Research Building 4 (MR4), in close proximity to Infectious Diseases Program faculty labs in MR4 and Jordan Hall. The Center is occupied by nine investigators with a primary interest in immunology, four of which are preceptors in this application (T.J. Braciale, V. Engelhard, K. Ravichandran, and Y. Hahn). Expansion of the Center into the MR6 Research Building is planned in 2003 and is supported by an additional gift from the Beirne Carter Foundation of $5 million. Programs of the Beirne Carter Center that directly involve the participation of Infectious Diseases Program trainees and faculty include:
- Immunology Research in Progress series (weekly)
- Immunology Journal Club (weekly)
- "Fundamental Immunology" (MICR 803)
- "Current Topics in Immunology" (MICR 820/821)
- Anderson Symposium in Infectious Diseases (annually; co-sponsored by the Beirne Carter Center and the Infectious Diseases Training Program).
Link to Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research Website
The Myles Thaler Center for AIDS and Retrovirus Research
Research was endowed and Center Director David Rekosh, Ph.D. recruited after a nationwide search in 1992. Dr. Rekosh has a central role in the Infectious Diseases Program as a member of the Steering Committee. The Center consists of five faculty members, all of whom are preceptors for this training grant (D. Rekosh, L. Hammarskjold, D. Kedes , and M. Roberts). The research interests of the Center investigators include the molecular biology of HIV RNA transport, interaction of HIV gene products with the immune system, virulence of HIV isolates in a human - SCID mouse model, and molecular mechanisms of latency of Kaposi Sarcoma associated herpes virus. The Center is located in 6,000 square feet of laboratory space in Jordan Hall (again in close proximity to other Infectious Diseases Program faculty laboratories in Jordan Hall and MR4). Programs sponsored by the Thaler Center of special interest to trainees in the Infectious Diseases Program include the weekly Research in Progress series, and Thaler Center Seminars which are incorporated into the Department of Microbiology seminar series.
Link to the Myles Thaler Center for AIDS and Retrovirus Research Website
The Department of Microbiology this year ranks #2 of all Microbiology Departments in the nation for NIH funding. It is a central component of the Infectious Diseases Program, with eight of the mentors (V. Engelhard, J. Goldberg, M. Hammarskjold, R. Kadner, K. Ravichandran, D. Rekosh and M. Roberts) having primary, and 11 mentors (T. Braciale, S. Fu, Y. Hahn, K. Hazen, D. Kedes, B. Mann, T. Obrig, W. Petri, K. Ravichandran, M. Smith and J. White) with joint appointments in the Department. A major programmatic contribution of the Microbiology Department to the training environment is the graduate student course on microbial pathogenesis (MICR 810 - Microbial Pathogenesis), which is a required course for Infectious Diseases predoctoral trainees and is organized and taught by the faculty of the Infectious Diseases Training Program. Thomas Parsons, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Microbiology, has made it a priority to hire new faculty in the area of microbial pathogenesis, with a new search underway for a tenure track faculty member in the area of microbial pathogensis.
Link to the Department of Microbiology Website
The Center for International Health was established in 1978 by Richard Guerrant M.D as one of the four original Rockefeller Foundation supported programs. The Center is an integral part of the Infectious Diseases Program, with a focus on emerging enteric and protozoan infections, with both laboratory and field components of the research. Dr. Guerrant is the Principal Investigator for two major program projects in the Center: the NIH International Collaborations for Infectious Diseases Research (ICIDR) program project grant "Recognition and Expression of Tropical Infectious Diseases" and the NIH Tropical Medicine Research Centers (TMRC) "Pathogenesis and Therapy of Tropical Diseases". The faculty of the Center (including preceptors R. Guerrant, B. Mann and W. Petri) also teach trainees in a growing Travelers' Clinic, conduct international electives for students, and have developed major international collaborations with the sister institutions the Federal University of Ceara in the northeast of Brazil and the University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, Ghana. The Center is the home for the "International Training in Emerbing Infectious Diseases" NIH Training Grant which is exclusively for the training of foreign nationals.
Link to the Center for International Health Website
Certification in Tropical Medicine and Travelers Health is available for M.D. trainees in the Program (one of only a handful of infectious diseases programs nationwide to offer this certification training). Certification is administered by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and provides added emphasis on tropical medicine. The Certification course is directed by Infectious Diseases Program mentor B. Mann, and includes seminars, conferences, laboratory training, and outpatient experience.
Link to Information about the Course for Certification by ASTMH Examination.
The Department of Health Sciences Evaluation and its Chair William Knaus, M.D. add expertise in the design and interpretation of clinical infectious diseases research. The Master's Degree in Health Evaluation Sciences is required for all Infectious Diseases M.D. postdoctoral trainees specializing in clinical research. Tuition for the Master's Degree is provided by the training grant, and to date all 9 M.D. postdoctoral trainees specializing in clinical research and supported over the last 10 years by this grant have completed, or are currently enrolled, in the program. The typical coursework for the program is:
- Stat 500/598-Introduction to Applied Statistics
- HES 701-Fundamentals of Epidemiology
- HES 702-Epidemiology of Disease
- HES 703-Statistical Computing and Graphics
- HES 704-Biostatistical Modeling
- HES 710-Healthcare Policy and Management
- HES 892-Topical Research
Link to the Department of Health Sciences Evaluation Website
T he General Clinical Research Center is a fully NIH-funded ten-bed clinical unit with its own nursing staff. The center is located on the eighth floor of University Hospital in 8,000 square feet of space. The inpatient beds are equipped with extensive monitoring facilities including two channel blood pressure, ECG monitoring, pulse oximetry, temperature and non-invasive blood pressure determinations. In addition to the inpatient space the center has an off-unit outpatient space, as well as a state of the art fully staffed exercise physiology laboratory, sleep laboratory, metabolic kitchen and RIA core laboratory. The scope of NIH funding for this center allows investigators to carry out research in both healthy and ill human volunteers. Investigators have access to extensive computer facilities on the center staffed by a trained systems manager. An example of the use of this center by the Infectious Diseases Program is the study of diarrhea in HIV-infected patients by trainee Nathan Thielman, M.D. with preceptor Dr. R. Guerrant. Dr. Thielman's work was supported by a Clinical Associate Physician award through the Clinical Research Center.
Link to the General Clinical Research Center Website
The Respiratory Disease Study Unit is part of the University's Center for Prevention of Disease and Injury. It coordinates and supports the investigative activities of faculty and fellows interested in a broad range of questions related to respiratory viral disease, specifically clinical trials involving ambulatory adults. Fred Hayden, M.D. is the Infectious Disease Program preceptor that works in the Unit with trainee Michael Ison. The Unit is physically located within the Elson Student Health Center and encompasses 300 square feet of laboratory space for virus isolation and identification, serologic testing, and nucleic acid amplification; two nursing offices; and a 500 square foot clinical work area. The current support staff consists of three research nurses and two and one-half full time technicians.
T he Infectious Diseases Clinic cares for 350-400 HIV-infected patients in the Primary Care Center, which is a five minute walk from the Infectious Diseases Program labs in MR4 and Jordan Hll. It also provides support to satellite clinics that care for an additional 150 patients. Directors of the Clinic are Program graduates Brian Wispelway, M.D. and Greg Townsend, M.D. Clinical research conducted at the Clinic includes participation in antiretroviral protocols, protocols of the NIH Mycoses Study Group, and evaluation of therapies for opportunistic infections. More basic retroviral research, utilizing HIV isolates from patients, is conducted by the Thaler Center (above). The Clinic encompasses the AIDS Resource and Consultation Center, which serves half of the Commonwealth of Virginia by providing workshops, lectures, HIV testing and counseling courses, and a preceptor program. Trainees of the Infectious Disease Program receive instruction and participate in the care of HIV infected individuals through the clinic.
The Clinical Microbiology Laboratory provides comprehensive microbiological diagnostic services for the inpatient and outpatient activities of the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center. The staff includes approximately 20 full time technical staff and four faculty members with specific expertise (including mentors F. Hayden and K. Hazen). Each of the laboratory components (Virology, Molecular Diagnostics, Mycology, Mycobacteriology, Bacteriology) provide research and educational opportunities for trainees. The laboratory is a ready source of clinical specimens for assessing rapid diagnostic techniques and also has support laboratories to allow fellows to engage in the development of new techniques.
Back to Top
Shared Medical Center Research Facilities are a major part of the research and training environment at the School of Medicine. These service centers complement the expertise of the laboratories of the Infectious Diseases Program mentors, and are supported by income from a $50 million endowment from the Pratt Foundation as well as user fees. They provide extensive teaching and consultation through their faculty directors, and include:
-
Transgenic Mouse Core Facility in Jordan Hall that is equipped for microinjection of eggs and reimplantation for the ectopic expression of a transgene. The current fee is $2176 per DNA construct.
-
Homologous Recombination Gene Targeting Facility in Jordan Hall which operates in conjunction with the Transgenic Mouse Core Facility and provides expertise in gene targeting in embryonic stem cell cultures.
-
Keck Center for Cellular Imaging in Gilmer Hall and consists of facilities for fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, laser ablation and microinjection.
-
Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting Facility in MR4 with 3 devices for analyzing single cells: a FACScan analyzer, a FACSIV Vantage sorter and a Meridian ACAS 470 for FRAP and intracellular calcium measurements.
-
Biomolecular Research Facility in Jordan Hall offers ultrasensitive protein/peptide sequencing via tandem mass spectroscopy techniques, carbohydrate analysis, DNA sequencing, and synthesis of oligonucleotides and peptides.
-
Central Electron Microscope Facility in Jordan Hall with 3 JEOL electron microscopes that include transmission and scanning capacities and a full range of tools for studies at the EM level, including shadowing, freeze etching and immunoelectron microscopy.
-
Lymphocyte Culture Center provides all aspects of monoclonal antibody production, including immunizations, sera collections, intra-splenic immunizations, design and carryout of ELISA screens for monoclonal antibodies, antibody production and purification, and cryopreservation of cell lines.
-
Research Histology Shared Facility provides histology and immunohistology services to researchers, including tissue fixation, sectioning, staining, and interpretation by pathologists.
-
Biostatistics Facility in the Department of Health Evaluation Sciences provides collaboration and consulting in study design, conduct, analysis and interpretation, as well as teaching these skills through graduate courses offered to our trainees.
-
ITC-ACHS Computing Facility in the Old Hospital is a collaborative effort of Information Technology and Communication (ITC) with Academic Computing and Helath Sciences (ACHS) and supports informatics, image analysis, molecular modeling, DNA protein and sequence analysis. It is co-directed by mentor W. Pearson, an international expert on protein and DNA analysis and the developer of the fasta and fastp software programs for sequence analyses.
-
Claude Moore Health Science Library has just completed a major expansion and renovation which included major upgrades in computer capabilities and small group discussion and study rooms. It possesses over 80,000 monographs and subscribes to over 2,800 journals.
Back to Top
Institutional support for the Infectious Diseases Training Program includes supplementation by the School of Medicine of predoctoral and by the Department of Medicine of M.D. postdoctoral stipends (M.D. supplements were $19,611.20 for 2001), tuition support, support of the Director's 10% effort, and the provision of one full institutionally-funded graduate student position per year. In addition the Infectious Disease Program is eligible to compete for additional graduate student positions ("Dean's fellowships") and for competitive supplements aimed for recruiting of postdoctoral fellows.
School of Medicine funds that are committed to support entry level predoctoral students and to supplement training grant appointments are:
|
Source
|
Funds Available Annually
|
| Pratt Fellowships (Endowment) |
$245,000 |
| Dupont Fellowship |
$129,305 |
| Presidential Fellowship |
$5,872 |
| Teaching Assistantships |
$200,000 |
| Tuition Remissions |
$129,584 |
| Tuition Differentials |
$433,451 |
| Special Tuition |
$41,367 |
| State Restricted, Unrestricted & Minority Funds |
$77,308 |
| Dean's Funds, School of Medicine |
$517,389 |
| School of Medicine MSTP Funds |
$794,342 |
| Department Overhead and Local Funds |
$665,065 |
| Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (NSF etc.) |
$270,761 |
| Graduate School of Arts and Sciences |
$160,056 |
|
Total:
|
$3,669,500 |
Coordination of predoctoral student recruitment and interviewing is accomplished through the Graduate Programs Office in the School of Medicine, which also coordinates recruitment of under-represented minority trainees to the Infectious Diseases Program. The Office of Interdisciplinary Studies also assists the Infectious Diseases Program by providing support for the development of World Wide Web pages, by publicizing the Program nationally, coordinating the receipt and distribution of predoctoral application materials, and by providing conference room space and other administrative support (computerized database and graduate student tracking, etc.) as needed.
Preceptor support for the Infectious Diseases Program includes transfer onto research grants of trainee stipends after a maximum of two (predoctoral) or three (M.D. postdoctoral) years of support by the training grant. This not only maximizes the training support from NIH, but ensures that trainees are working in well supported laboratory environments. It should be noted that Associate Dean for Graduate Research and Training, Gary Owens, Ph.D., places a high priority on emergency support for investigators who might not be able to support a trainee. The Infectious Diseases Program is committed to insuring that every M.D. trainee receives a minimum of two years of supported research training, in accordance with NIH recommendations.
Twenty six large laboratories at the University of Virginia Medical Center are presently being utilized for the research and teaching activities of the Infectious DiseasesProgram. These laboratories are well funded and equipped, as evidenced by the summaries presented in this application of the preceptors' research activities, extramural support, and productivity. Twenty one of the 26 laboratories are located in the adjacent MR4 and Jordan Hall research buildings, with the other 5 in the nearby Old Hospital, promoting interaction of Program preceptors and trainees.
|