UC Davis Department of Internal Medicine Research Lung Biology and Medicine Training Grant

Please select DCR for the component.

Comparative Lung Biology and Medicine Training Grant

Objectives

The objective of this training program is to provide interactive research environments and opportunities for trainees to become independent investigators in the areas of lung biology and lung disease research. The program is designed to take advantage of the existing strengths at UC Davis, including well established collaborations between lung researchers across Schools and Colleges at UC Davis. Approximately 31 faculty members from 5 schools and colleges (13 departments or divisions) may be selected as mentors.   

The University of California Davis’ Lung Center Program is a cooperative, interdisciplinary research and teaching center that is co-sponsored by the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine. The UC Davis Lung Center has three major, inter-related missions:

  1. Lung Biology, Immunology and Molecular Medicine.  Faculty in this research group address epithelial cell responses to infection and stress, mechanisms of pulmonary vasculature regulation in health and disease, and the role of mucosal immunology.  
  2. Environmental Lung Health and Engineering. All investigators in this research group are leading translational efforts in research highly relevant to the impact of environmental stress and toxicants on lung biology and function.
  3. Data Sciences and Translational Research in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Expertise in this group of investigators spans the spectrum of lung diseases and critical care medicine with expertise in metabolomics, bioinformatics, clinical informatics, and human studies.

Application Guidelines

Conditions of Award

Our training program is a full-time (one year) curriculum starting on August 1 and runs through July 31, which includes a ten-week Professional Development series with an emphasis on writing, presentation of the trainee’s work in seminar form, and participation in Lung Day (mid-June), Translational Learning Group meetings, and a Distinguished Speakers Seminar series. We expect full participation of our trainees in all program activities.

In this program, awardees/recipients will have the opportunities and responsibilities to ensure that this support will go towards realizing these goals, in the form of joint publications with cross-disciplinary laboratories, with the grant number cited (T32 HL007013).

There is a two-year limit in this NRSA T32 training program, but renewal is contingent upon the successful renewal of the parent T32 program grant award. 

Eligibility

Predoctoral Applicants: 3 positions available. Click here to apply (ID #8668320):  

  • Must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States
  • Must be enrolled in at least 12 units at UC Davis.
  • Must commit to a 12 calendar month appointment
  • Must demonstrate strong commitment to pursuit of an independent academic career
  • Must provide strong interest in the area of lung-related research
  • Must provide evidence of previous research training.
  • Must have a faculty mentor(s) and mentor’s financial support.

Postdoctoral Applicants: 3 position available. Click here to apply (ID #8725973):   

  • Must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States (Notarized verification letter is required)
  • Must commit to a 12 calendar month appointment
  • Must demonstrate strong commitment to pursuit of an independent academic career
  • Must provide strong interest in the area of lung-related research
  • Must provide evidence of previous research training.
  • Must have two faculty mentors and mentors’ financial support.
  • NIH payback agreement is required.

How to Apply

Submit application documentation (see below) via Handshake website. Combine all required documents and upload as a single combined PDF file to Handshake before the deadline.

Deadline: March 31

  • Earliest Start Date: August 1
  • Notice of Acceptance Date: Award recipients will receive the details of reviewer comments and notice of acceptance by April 20. 

UC Davis is an equal opportunity employer. Underrepresented minorities are highly encouraged to apply. 

Application Documentation

  1. Application cover sheet and NIH demographics forms
  2. Applicant’s CV
  3. Career development goals (1 page limit)
  4. Research proposal (3-5 pages max), which should include the following: Project Title, Specific Aims (objective and significance), Approach, Research Design (methodology), Project Timeline.
  5. References cited (no page limit).
  6. Mentor’s biosketch and other support
  7. Letters of support: at least two letters of recommendation are required, one must be from the proposed faculty mentor(s)
  8. Other support documents (if applicable): 1) Copy of undergraduate/graduate academic records; 2) Qualifying Exam: completion of the qualifying exam for the Ph.D. is not required prior to applying to this program and we consider applicants both before and after the QE. GRE is not required. 3) notarized letter of verification or permanent residency (contact T32 coordinator for more information).

For more information regarding application process, please email Ms. Chue Xiong (cvxiong@ucdavis.edu) or call 530-752-9281.

Leadership

Nicholas Kenyon, M.D., M.A.S.
Program Director and Professor of Medicine
Department of Internal Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Elena Goncharova, Ph.D.

Program Co-Director, Professor of Medicine
Department of Internal Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine


Mentors/Trainers

Jason Adams, M.D., Use of artificial intelligence (AI) methods, physiologic sensors, and electronic health record data to improve the diagnosis of critical illnesses and the prediction of clinical trajectories in intensive care. 

John Albeck, Ph.D., Understanding the mechanisms of information flow in signal transduction networks controlling cell growth, survival, and metabolism.

Nick Anderson, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.,  Clinical-translational discovery and sharing, data sciences in digital medicine, patient-centered health research, and bioethics policy.

Rachael Callcut, M.D., M.S.P.H., Integration of biomedical big data and surgical data science into critical care for improved clinical decision support.

Randy Carney, Ph.D., Early-stage cancer diagnosis by applying spectroscopic methods to characterize circulating exosomes and related extracellular vesicles.

Ching-Hsien (Jean) Chen, Ph.D., Mechanism-based target identification and drug discovery in both cancer and fibrosis

Xinbin Chen, Ph.D., Cancer biology.

Nipavan Chiamvimonvat, M.D., Cardiac ion channel regulation and cardiac arrhythmias.

Satya Dandekar, Ph.D., GI tract pathogenesis and defenses in the SIV/macaque model for simian AIDS.

Cristina Davis, Ph.D., Designing and implementing cutting-edge chemical sensor systems to solve real-world problems and enable trace chemical detection in challenging environments.

Oliver Fiehn, Ph.D., Metabolism in health and disease: mass spectrometry, cheminformatics.

Elena Goncharova, Ph.D., Molecular and cellular mechanisms of pulmonary vascular disease.

Angela Haczku, Ph.D., Impact of environmental exposures on innate and adaptive immune regulation of airway inflammation

Bruce Hammock, Ph.D., Inhibitors of α/ß-hydrolase enzymes. Metabolomics

Richart Harper, M.D., Mucosal innate immunity and allergic responses.

Hong Ji, Ph.D., Epigenetic regulation of responses to environmental exposures and lung diseases.

Nicholas Kenyon, M.A.S., M.D., Severe asthma mechanisms and therapeutics.

Satyan Lakshminrusimha, M.D., Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurotoxicology.

Pamela Lein, Ph.D., Neuropharmacology and neurotoxicology and cell and molecular mechanisms of neural plasticity and their role as targets for growth factors, inflammatory mediators and neurotoxicants.

Gabrielle Liu, M.D., Clinical respiratory epidemiology with a focus in interstitial lung disease (ILD)

Javier Lόpez, M.D., Translational and clinical research in cardiac hypertrophy and failure.

Lisa A. Miller, Ph.D., Air pollution and inhalation toxicology.

Bennett Penn, M.D., Ph.D., Immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes the human disease tuberculosis, using cutting-edge genetic and proteomic tools.

Kent E. Pinkerton, Ph.D., Environmental air pollution and impact on cardiovascular system.

Bradley Pollock, Ph.D., Epidemiology and control of childhood and adolescent cancers.

Scott I. Simon, Ph.D., Inflammation with focus on leukocyte-endothelial interactions in atherosclerosis.

Jacqueline Stocking, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S.N., Predictive modeling of adverse hospital outcomes and critical care quality improvement.

Judy A. Van de Water, Ph.D., Immunobiology of autism in the context of toxic exposures.

Laura S. Van Winkle, Ph.D., Respiratory toxicology.

Aijun Wang, Ph.D., Developing technologies that combine stem cell engineering and biomaterial engineering to promote tissue regeneration.

Amir Zeki, M.D., Airway epithelial biology including lipids and metabolism as related to chronic inflammation, asthma, COPD, and novel therapeutics.