Biotechnology for Human Health

University Of Virginia, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. Biotechnology stands as a cornerstone of innovation, societal progress, and has a tremendous impact on human health.  We aim to prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers in the fundamentals of biotechnology who will push the boundaries of health and facilitate the translation from bench to sidewalk. This proposed training program in Biotechnology for Human Health (BHH) builds on over 20 years of success while deepening the focus to translation, entrepreneurship, teamwork, and communication skills. The program is designed to enable students to learn about translation and development of technologies or drugs, solving problems by being adaptable and working in teams, and how to communicate with interdisciplinary teams. Our overall goal is to spark creativity, critical thinking, resilience, and a passion to help human health in the next generation of scientists and engineers. The BHH training program brings together mentors and trainees from 14 degree granting programs across the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of Medicine, and the Arts and Sciences. As such, an important aspect of this proposal is the cohesive set of activities from classes, symposium, conferences, journal clubs, to communication and externship opportunities. The students are evaluated selectively from an annual May competition open to all PhD students for which we request 10 predoctoral slots. The curriculum is designed to deepen the students’ exposure and training for careers in biotechnology through coursework on translation, rigor and reproducibility in experimentation, written and oral communication, symposia, externships, industry panels, and mentoring from faculty who have translated their discoveries into the clinic and into companies. The BHH alumni remain active and connected to the training program through sustained relationships with their primary and minor mentors, through the Co-Directors, regular research in progress meetings, and once they graduate, they serve as mentors for the current students. The Co-Directors have complementary expertise in the biotechnology field having both founded start-up companies. They have track records in mentorship, career development of predoctoral students, and scientific rigor and transparency. The BHH mentors believe in trainee preparedness that is personalized, evolving, and built on trust and that relationships don’t end at graduation.