Graduate Training in Genetics

University Of Oregon, Eugene OR

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Continued support is requested for an ongoing program in graduate research training in Genetics at the University of Oregon. Our goal is to produce creative, rigorous, and experimentally skilled scientists with an appreciation for the evolutionary, molecular, cellular, and developmental contexts of gene function and heredity. We aim to help students develop the skills to lead research programs of their own, communicate science to the lay public, and teach the next generation of geneticists. Research training within an active laboratory provides the backbone of our program. We ensure a solid intellectual foundation by requiring trainees to take graduate level coursework in three core areas (molecular genetics, developmental genetics, and evolutionary genetics) and in statistics. Coursework is complemented in the first year by an intensive laboratory rotation program. We surround the lab and coursework with a wealth of enhancing and broadening experiences -- teaching, journal clubs, student research talks, seminar series by outside speakers, and more. Funds are requested for nine predoctoral trainee positions within a program that includes approximately 55 Ph.D. students and 23 faculty. The program brings together students and faculty from three research institutes (Institute of Molecular Biology, Institute of Neuroscience, and Institute of Ecology and Evolution) and three Departments (Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology). The program fosters interdisciplinary training via its highly collaborative group of training faculty, whose expertise spans the breadth of classical genetics, genomics, and allied disciplines. Students move easily between laboratories in the different departments and institutes due to the close proximity of all GTG faculty labs and to our faculty's commitment to minimizing bureaucratic barriers to such movement. The vast majority of former trainees have strong publication records and are employed in biomedical research and/or teaching.