New Training Grant Focuses on Basic Biomedical Sciences

By Dirk Hoffman

Formally known as the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant, the T32 enables academic institutions to make awards to select individuals for predoctoral and postdoctoral research training in specified shortage areas.

The Jacobs School will use the five-year, $1 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to award stipends to two second-year students each year in the school’s PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences (PPBS).

“These training grants are very helpful in that they will pay for graduate students who are already working in our faculty members’ labs,” says Christine E. Schaner Tooley, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry, who is co-director on the grant with Melissa R. McCartney, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology.

“Our grant is geared toward training more PhD students in the basic biomedical sciences,” McCartney says.

“Our directorate includes cellular and molecular biology, which is very broad. It gives us an advantage in that we can select from a lot of different departments and programs.”

Career development is a common thread running through all objectives of the training grant.

A key component is a course designed by McCartney and her postdoctoral fellow called “Developing Your Biomedical Brand.”

Topics will include analyzing interests and abilities, exploring career options, expanding experiences, developing competitive career development documents, and creating a network and professional presence.

“I’ve been interested in professional development for a while and I think it is starting to trend into the graduate spaces,” McCartney says.

“We train more PhD students than we have positions for in academic science, so we need to help these students find fulfilling careers throughout the biomedical sciences, which may or may not necessarily be in academia,” she says.

McCartney says the course will focus on fundamentals like putting a CV together, learning how to network, and learning about all the additional nonacademic careers that are available for cellular and molecular biologists. The hope is to make the course a standing class at the Jacobs School.

“We would like to expand the class beyond the training grant. We would like to offer it to everyone in the PPBS,” Schaner Tooley adds.

Schaner Tooley will also chair a Trainee Transition Committee comprised of interdisciplinary faculty who will practice and provide feedback on job talks with trainees and review their resumes, CVs and research statements.

“We want to make sure everyone is well prepared for their interviews,” she says. “I think everyone gets the science, but not everyone gets the right polishing for their job talk, and how to interview well.”

Once the scientific training is finished, the committee will help with converting a thesis defense into an interview job talk.

“We do not want to just leave them on their own to look for a job. We all have connections and experience that can help,” Schaner Tooley says. “And this will be for all PPBS students, not just those in the T32 training program.”

Another main objective of the training program is to raise the completion rate for the PPBS.

“Often, students are not exactly sure what they want to do for a career so they figure they will get a PhD. They think it is a good option because there is a stipend — it’s a safe career choice,” Schaner Tooley says. “But when you don’t know what it is you actually want to do and what you are qualified for, it decreases your ambition or your drive.”

McCartney notes that the training program’s cohort will provide a sense of community, giving a sense of “you belong here,” which could help decrease attrition rates in the PPBS.

Schaner Tooley points out that the Jacobs School previously only had T32 training grants for underserved students.

“This will be great for the PPBS because it is open to all students,” she says. “It is a very nice recruiting tool.”

“It is prestigious to have a training grant on your application as a student for when you go to do postdoctoral work,” Schaner Tooley says. “It is good for mentors because they get funding for their students, but it is also good for students.”

All mentors who have current NIH funding and have second-year students coming into their lab will be eligible to apply for the training grant stipends.

A T32 steering committee will oversee policy decisions and selection of students for the program. In addition to Schaner Tooley and McCartney, the steering committee will include an Internal Advisory Committee consisting of:

• Andrew M. Gulick, PhD, professor of structural biology and director of the PPBS
• Margarita L. Dubocovich, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of pharmacology and toxicology, and director of UB’s Institute for Maximizing Student Development T32 program
• Anyango Kamina, PhD, assistant dean for student development and academic enhancement