Overview

This program is designed to train doctoral students in contemporary Systems & Integrative Biology. For more information, refer to the Goals of the Program document. Our NIH-funded program is now in its 29th year and supports 6 students each year. The course requirements are designed to allow students from different backgrounds and PhD programs to participate. Trainees also will participate in a monthly Systems Biology Workshop and an annual Spring Research Symposium.

Priority is given to students in their 2nd and 3rd year of graduate study and funding is normally for two years. To be considered for membership in the program students must make a formal application to the Training Grant Operating Committee; applications are considered yearly in the spring. We value and encourage students from underrepresented minority or ethnic groups and those with disabilities to apply to our program. However, funding is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

For more information, please contact:

• Program Director: Daniel Beard
• Associate Director: Kelly Arnold
• Program Administrator: Michele Boggs

Overview

The goal of this NIH-supported Training Program is to provide graduate students with broad training in the discipline of reproductive biology, with research areas ranging from cell biology and genetics to physiology, to mathematical modeling to public health. This program is for students who have completed prelims and has a strong emphasis on career development including non-academic paths

Unique features of this training program

• Rigorous hypothesis-based research that is integrated with completion of a Rackham Certificate Program training in teaching, public policy, entrepreneurship, translational research or another topic that melds with the dissertation work, building both academic and non-academic career skills and awareness.
• Coursework in grantsmanship and reproductive biology.
• Mentored research-in-progress seminar series

For more information, please contact:

• Program Director: Sue Moenter
• Associate Director: Sundeep Kalantry

The U-M Medical School has a superb history of training and research in gastrointestinal sciences over the last several decades. This program consolidates the major investigators who are conducting gastrointestinal research at the U-M Medical School into a strong core of mentors for predoctoral and postdoctoral training. Our faculty mentors are all members of the Michigan Digestive Diseases Core Center funded by NIH since 1986, and bring a long history of collaboration and team science. This training grant supports 3 predoctoral and 3 postdoctoral trainees annually.

The training program focuses on three thematic areas that provide exceptional cross-disciplinary collaboration amongst the participating faculty:

1. Neurobiology of peptide control, visceral pain and neurosignaling regulating GI motility
2. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of inflammation, tissue injury and repair in all digestive organs
3. Cell growth, differentiation and programmed cell death. 

The program includes unique coursework, seminars, strong mentoring and other enriching features.

For more information, please contact:

• Training Grant Coordinator: Don May

For the past 30 years, the Career Training in the Biology of Aging program has provided exceptional graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with comprehensive, in-depth research training in aging biology, which emphasizes logical and conceptual thinking, together with career-oriented mentoring designed to promote success in a diverse professional landscape. The U-M Medical School, and the Geriatrics Center in particular, is recognized internationally for clinical, educational, and research excellence in aging biology. 

The program benefits from a Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging, a Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, the Ann Arbor VA GRECC (Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center), and the Glenn Center Laboratories for the Biology of Aging. Our 20 preceptors represent a diverse, highly interactive, well-funded, and creative group that spans 17 different departments and four schools at UM. Our program has long emphasized hypothesis-based laboratory training through creative and impactful research, and we have proactively enriched these experiences with initiatives that ensure preparation for diverse career opportunities and that enhance synergy between the pre-and post-doctoral trainees. Trainees enjoy interactive Biogerontology Research Seminars, Biology of Aging Journal Clubs, and our annual Research Symposium, as well as new career-oriented initiatives, such as town-hall style trainee meetings with PhD scholars who have succeeded in career paths distinct from traditional academics, including industry-as well as entrepreneurship.

A comprehensive training program in the biology of aging will prepare trainees for careers at the forefront of academics, industry, and biotechnology, thereby promoting the discovery of a deeper biological understanding of the aging process and nurturing a passion to apply their experience to alleviate the cost and suffering associated with age-related disease.

For more information, please contact:

• Program Director: Scott Pletcher

Overview

This program provides an opportunity for postdoctoral fellows to pursue training in diverse aspects of diabetes research. Training grant preceptors fall into major interest groups across the spectrum of type 1 and 2 diabetes research – islet biology, autoimmune diabetes, adipocyte biology, neuronal regulation of metabolism, mechanisms of insulin resistance, metabolic control in liver and muscle, and diabetes complications - each area containing investigators pursuing basic research with potential translational applicability. Laboratory training is supplemented by a core curriculum in molecular pathogenesis of diabetes, a series of educational seminars and classes (including ethics), and workshops on grant writing, career skills, and research methodologies.

Learn more about the training grant

For more information, please contact:

• Program Director: Ormond MacDougald

Overview

The goal of this predoctoral training program is to prepare the next generation of scientists for diverse scientific careers by training them in both state-of-the-art translational cardiovascular research, but also to expose the trainees to the principles of research entrepreneurship needed to move discoveries to application in human patients. This training grant is for PhD candidate students who have passed prelims.

Unique features of this training program

• Mentored training in state-of-the-art cardiovascular basic research laboratories
• Hands-on training in advanced cardiovascular physiology animal phenotyping
• Coursework and boot camp focused on exposure to principles of research entrepreneurship
• Clinical advisory board members to help identify important unmet needs in your area of research

For more information, please contact:

• Program Director: Jose Jalife