NHLBI T32 Training Program in Comparative Lung Biology and Medicine

Program 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 40 faculty members from 4 schools and colleges (17 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:

• The research mission is to investigate human diseases from cells, molecular biology, and animal models through clinical disease. Areas of emphasis include viral and bacterial disease, molecular virology, biochemistry, and pharmacology.

• Integrative Biology. Faculty members possess a broad range of complementary and interdisciplinary expertise in integrative biology that serves the entire UC Davis campus including research model development, validation, and collaborative support.

• The interdisciplinary research programs provide a rich academic environment for scientific training at the professional, graduate, and post-graduate levels.

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 trainees work in seminar form, 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: 2 positions available. Click here to apply (ID #7580250):  

• 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 pursue 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: 1 position available. Click here to apply (ID #7580259):   

• Must be a citizen or permanent residents of the United States (Notarized verification letter is required)

• Must commit to a 12 calendar month appointment

• Must demonstrate strong commitment to pursue 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 documentations (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):

   • Copy of undergraduate/graduate academic records

   • 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.

   • 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

 
Mentors/Trainers

Jason Adams, M.D., Clinical Registries in epidemiology, health informatics, database administration, project/process management: Medical/Critical Care informatics, ARDS/PETAL Sepsis, Ventilator data analysis and visualization. 

John Albeck, Ph.D., Single-cell imaging of kinase networks regulating cell proliferation and metabolism.

Timothy E. Albertson, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Pulmonary and critical care medicine, medicine, pharmacology and toxicology, anesthesia and emergency medicine.

Nick Anderson, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Clinical Research Informatics, Biomedical Informatics.

Nicole Baumgarth, D.V.M., Ph.D., Regulation of immune responses to pathogens with emphasis on influenza virus infection and HIV; mucosal immunology; respiratory tract immunology; molecular regulation of early B cell activation; and function and development of B-1 cells.

Deborah Bennett, Ph.D., Transport and exposure of chemicals in both indoor and multimedia environments with the context of both environmental risk assessment and epidemiology and assessment of environmental contaminants and patterns.

Randy Carney, Ph.D., Nanoplasmonics, Raman spectroscopy/SERS, exosomes, cancer diagnostics.

Charles Bevins, M.D., Ph.D., Innate immunity; mucosal host defense; defenses.

Ching-Hsien (Jean) Chen, Ph.D., Molecular Cancer Biology, Peptide-based Therapeutics, Functional Proteomics.

Nipavan Chiamvimonvat, M.D., Cardiovascular biology and medicine: diabetes, hypertension and inflammatory disorders.

Cristina Davis, Ph.D., Airway breath condensates and breath analysis.

Jean-Pierre Delplanque, Ph.D., Multiscale modeling and numerical simulation of complex processes and systems.

Oliver Fiehn, Ph.D., Developments and applications in metabolomics and interpretation of genomics and metabolomics data.

Elena Goncharova, Ph.D., Molecular and cellular mechanisms of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) and asthma.

Angela Haczku, M.D., Ph.D., Pulmonary physiology, airway inflammation and the underlying immune regulatory mechanisms, including inflammatory phenotype in response to environmental exposures to air pollution, cigarette smoke, allergen inhalation and psychosocial stress.

Bruce Hammock, Ph.D., Effect of toxins on arachidonate signaling; environmental chemistry; biosensor development.

David R. Gandara, M.D., Thoracic oncology and comprehensive oncology.

Tzipora Goldkorn, Ph.D., Lung cell biology and signaling systems.

Bruce Hammock, Ph.D., Soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitors as anti-hypertensive and anti-inflammatory agents.

Richart W. Harper, M.D., Lung cell biology and oxidative biology.

Paul T. Henderson, Ph.D., Mass spectrometry to cancer-related problems.

Hong Ji, Ph.D., Elucidating the epigenetic regulation of chronic diseases such as childhood asthma and examining how epigenetic mechanisms mediate the impact of environmental exposures during critical developmental windows (e.g., infancy) on increased disease susceptibility.

Nicholas J. Kenyon, M.D., M.A.S., Airway inflammation and fibrosis; lung physiology;  environmental effects on lung function; the role of nitric oxide in airway diseases; asthma; COPD; lung injury.

Satyan Lakshminrusimha, M.D., Pulmonary vascular biology, oxygen and Neonatal resuscitation.

Kit Lam, M.D., Ph.D., Combinatorial chemistry, chemical biology, drug development, molecular imaging, nanotherapeutics and medical oncology.

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.

Lisa Miller, Ph.D., Lung immunology and neonatal immunity.

Bennett Penn, M.D., Ph.D., Understanding the 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., Inhalation lung toxicology and injury and repair

Bradely Pollock, Ph.D., Epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental, and occupational health sciences.

Scott I. Simon, Ph.D., inflammation: focus on leukocyte-endothelial interactions.

Judy Van de Water, Ph.D., Clinical immunology and immunopathology associated with autism.

Laura S. Van Winkle, Ph.D., Lung Cell Biology, Toxicology and Remodeling.

Anthony Wexler, Ph.D., Lung Cell and Molecular Biology: Lung Cell and Molecular Biology: Airway epithelial cell biology and gene expression; IL-17 in airway diseases and functions.

Reen Wu, Ph.D., Lung Cell and Molecular Biology.

Amir Zeki, M.D., M.A.S., Identifying drug-induced lung injury; geoepidemiology of COPD and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; Simvastatin inhibits airway hyperreactivity.