University Of Colorado Denver

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 1978-07

Understanding development is critical for understanding psychopathology, particularly for identifying the precursors and early manifestations of illness. This postdoctoral training program, entering its 43rd year, focuses on training scientists in areas related to translational developmental neuroscience. The Developmental Psychobiology Research Group (DPRG) is a multi-specialty, multi-departmental, multi-institutional group of collaborative scientists from throughout the Denver metropolitan region. The DPRG has administered this T32 training program since its inception over 40 years ago and is requesting an additional five years of funding with six trainees per year for its 2-3 year postdoctoral training program. The program recruits physicians (primarily child psychiatrists) who will generally enter the program with five to seven years of postdoctoral experience and individuals with a PhD, who will generally enter the program with zero to four years of postdoctoral training. Mentoring faculty are chosen based on research accomplishment, a history of successful research collaborations, and a history of successful research mentoring. Since the last renewal, we have also added secondary mentors, to expand expertise, involve junior faculty, and provide additional collaborative opportunities. The program includes both core and individualized curricular components. Core curricular components includes an ongoing work-in-progress seminar with both faculty and trainee involvement, a writing group, yearly retreats, career development seminars, and training related to the responsible conduct of research and methods to enhance reproducibility and rigor. The individualized curricular components include both class work and direct project experience, including dissemination, mentored by a mentorship team. Ongoing empirically-based review of the program demonstrates both a high level of success of this program’s graduates as well as the program’s curricular flexibility in responding to the results of those reviews. Evaluation of the program is ongoing. Strengths of the program include the quality of the applicants, a collaborative group of outstanding faculty, interaction of trainees from a variety of disciplines, and a strong evaluation process. The scientists trained by this program become leaders in identifying the child and adolescent precursors to mental illness, and in developing novel strategies for treatment and prevention.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 1976-07

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The primary objective of this proposal is to continue our longstanding (45yr) cardiopulmonary research training efforts at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CUAMC). This program trains individuals with doctoral degrees in either biological or medical sciences for successful careers in research. A multidisciplinary team-oriented approach to both mentoring and training emphasizing the integration of studies at the molecular, cellular, tissue organ, and physiological (whole organism) levels permits rapid bench-to-bedside-to-bench translation of the work performed. Our program is continually evolving. We expanded the focus to include access to genomics and transcriptomics expertise through the Genomic Shared Resource Center and to advanced computational skills through a new Center for Health Artificial Intelligence. These additions complement our focus in Bioengineering, Biomaterials, Regenerative Medicine, Genomics, Metabolomics and Redox Biology. Collectively, this expanded focus enables us to involve outstanding programs and investigators whose work directly intersects with cardiopulmonary biology. Of the many training grants at CUAMC, this is the only one specifically dedicated to pulmonary vascular biology and one of only 2 in the country focusing on this area. Our continuing and long-term goal is that after 3 years of training the program’s fellows will have acquired the professional skills to be competitive for research and/or teaching positions and obtain their own extramural funds. Toward this end, we have added outstanding new scientific and educational mentors. Further, Dr. Flores has been appointed multiple PI and brings great strength to our program as Vice Chair of Diversity and Justice for the Department of Medicine. Our specific objectives are: 1)To attract and select talented and highly motivated fellows who have a demonstrated interest in cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. 2)To provide trainees with an intensive research experience by pairing them with mentors who are rigorously selected based on their qualifications. 3)To enhance the scientific knowledge and critical thinking abilities by requiring a series of formal workshops/lectures. 4)To enhance multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches to research by requiring co- mentors and a Team-oriented T-shaped Development for T-32 Trainees (T4) approach. 5)Train fellows in responsible and ethical conduct of research. 6)To help the trainees/scientists develop proficiency with a wide array of non-bench professional skills necessary for biomedical research careers such as communication, leadership development, and project management and professionalism. 7)To introduce our fellows to a suite of social science theories and provide instruction on how to navigate biases and microaggressions in academia. The increasing national and international interest in pulmonary vascular biology, the expanded nature of our program, and the excellent track record of training individuals from all backgrounds, including underrepresented minorities, support our request for 6 postdoctoral trainees each year.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 1975-07

The overall goal of the Colorado Multidisciplinary Research Training Program in Pulmonary Disease (Colorado Training Program, CTP) is to train exceptional post-doctoral research Trainees for leadership in research careers in pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM). The CTP is requesting 12 post- doctoral training positions, and is organized around five disease-specific research themes that cover the breadth of pulmonary medicine, as well as the NHLBI Programmatic Emphasis on research areas/competencies. Each theme is supported by clinical and scientific academic expertise, innovative and cutting-edge methodology, and outstanding individual and team mentorship. This career development training is achieved through seamless integration with our ACGME-accredited Colorado Pulmonary Fellowship Program, engagement of PhDs during the post-doctoral phase of their training who are pursuing careers in lung health and disease, and an outstanding mentoring experience featuring 73 mentors (representing 3 Schools and 9 Departments) with a broad range of disease-specific research expertise and a wide array of cutting-edge and exciting approaches to research training. The Research Advisory Committees, our weekly Research in Progress conferences, the annual Aspen Conference, and our regular Research Retreats serve to unify our mentors and expose our Trainees to a broader multidisciplinary research training experience. We also provide a unique program in academic coaching to support mentees to navigate the culture of academia and to sustain a research career. The vision of our training program is to: • Train the next generation of highly skilled and innovative scientific leaders in PCCM • Provide cutting-edge research training opportunities in broad areas of lung health and disease • Ensure access to a wide range of pioneering methodology/technology to enrich the training experience • Achieve the highest standard of excellence for mentorship and research training • Foster values that sustain and enrich research careers in PCCM • Provide a training environment that empowers individual growth within team settings and a culture that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and personal wellness To achieve this vision, the CTP has undergone a number of fundamental changes including: • Appointed Drs. Burnham and Maier as MPIs to improve access to research opportunities offered by the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) and Colorado School of Public Health • Modified the schedule for MD Trainees to enhance/consolidate their research time and create opportunities for 1-2 research rotations prior to finalizing their mentored research plan • Established clear expectations for Trainees and mentors with well-defined milestones • Advanced team science and multidisciplinary research as a programmatic priority