About the
Cell and Molecular Biology Training Program:
 The Cell and Molecular
Biology Training Program (CMBTP) at
Case Western Reserve University School of
Medicine supports the interdisciplinary training
of outstanding, highly motivated graduate
students at CWRU-SOM for leadership positions in
the field of biomedical sciences.
The CMBTP is fundementally crosscutting, having
no primary departmental affiliation, and draws
its faculty from many different academic
units. The CMBTP does not grant degrees
itself but provides CMB Trainees with
experiences above and beyond the traditional PhD
Programs in which students are enrolled.
The CMBTP uniquely focuses on early training at
a critical juncture when students are developing
their thesis projects, giving them feedback and
exposure to a wide variety of experimental
approaches and scientific points of view to
stimulate a lifelong multidiciplinary and
collaborative mentality.
The
CMBTP
is
supported
by
the
National
Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
for over 25 years (5T32GM008056-28)
and former trainees have gone on to numerous
academic and industrial positions. CMB Trainers hold
primary appointments in numerous departments
including Biochemistry, Genetics, Medicine,
Molecular Biology & Microbiology,
Neurosciences, Pathology, Pharmacology and
Physiology & Biophysics.
The interdisciplinary nature of the training is
a unique aspect of the CMBTP at CWRU-SOM.
The goal continues to be to train students to
become outstanding independent investigators
capable of applying diverse experimental
approaches to solve important problems in modern
biology. Cell and Molecular Biology
Training Program draws its candidates from PhD
students admitted via the Biomedical
Sciences Training Program (BSTP), which
recruits Ph.D. students to Case and oversees
their first semester of graduate study, as well
as those admitted to participating PhD Programs
through direct departmental admissions. The
CMBTP provides stipend and other support for
students who have already selected their thesis
advisors, generally extending from the second or
third to the fifth or sixth semester of graduate
study.
The CMBTP currently has nine appointment slots
and 4-5 new appointments are made each year by
the CMBTP
steering committee. Prospective
trainees are nominated by their thesis advisors
and the committee appoints new students based on
graduate and undergraduate performace, research
progress and a 15-20 minute interview in which
the student's research and career goals are
discussed. While there are only nine
students receiving support at any time from the
training grant, a major goal of the CMBTP is to
encourage and support the involvement of former
trainees and trainers throughout the student's
graduate career.
Although dispersed in a number of different
departments, the members of CMB training
laboratories gather on a regular basis via two
distinct mechanisms: the CMB Trainer/Trainee
Seminar Series and the
student-organized CMB Symposium
Series.
|
