T32 Training Program Opportunities
Postdoctoral Scholars
These training programs are competitive with limited numbers of trainees accepted each year. If you are a postdoctoral scholar at UT Southwestern Medical Center and interested in any of the training programs listed below, please talk with your mentor and email the contact person listed for the specific program for application details.
- Cancer Biology
Funded by: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Term: September 1, 2023–August 31, 2028
PI/PRogram Director Jerry Shay, Ph.D.
Contact: jerry.shay@utsouthwestern.eduThis predoctoral and postdoctoral training program emphasizes bench to bedside research encompassing state-of-the-art areas of cancer research. Along with training in the fundamentals of cancer research and sound scientific theory, trainees are provided access to methods in fundamental drug discovery using high throughput chemical and genetic screens to define cellular networks, signal transduction pathways, DNA damage and repair responses, and nanomedicine-targeted therapeutic drug delivery using cell and animal molecular imaging.
The problem of cancer in the 21st century remains a national priority, and as such offers a substantive long-term career opportunity for the training of predoctoral and postdoctoral students. The goals of our program are to train top-quality scientists capable of conducting independent cancer research, to foster the intellectual, technical, and communication skills required to succeed in the academic or industrial arenas of today and in the future, and to provide an understanding of the basic, public health, and clinical problems of human cancer.
The ability of this training grant to bridge an existing outstanding foundation of faculty in basic science with newly developed Cancer Biology and Therapy Programs in the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, distinguishes it from a standardized general graduate and postgraduate educational program.
We have approximately 45 committed faculty trainers representing 16 different Departments and Centers at UT Southwestern. We have assembled a dedicated group of leaders that constitute the Steering Committee of the Training Program, along with administrative support and both intellectual and financial support from the Director of the Cancer Center.
We have an integrated plan for the Cancer Training Program for both predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees that details all key steps in cancer education and training, including biomedical ethics and the responsible conduct of science. We recruit from a geographically broad range of predoctoral and postdoctoral applicants as well as underrepresented diversity trainees.
We have expanded and implemented our cancer didactic and journal oriented courses, both basic and translational as well as a monthly cancer center trainee meeting. We highlight our selected trainees’ accomplishments and provide additional opportunities for these trainees in addition to our standard curriculum. Some of these include opportunities to attend meetings, and special lunches to interact with visiting faculty and to interact with each other on a regular basis.
- Endocrine and Metabolism Training Grant
Funded by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Term: July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2028
PI/Program Director: Philipp Scherer, Ph.D.
Contact: Philipp.Scherer@utsouthwestern.eduOur Endocrine and Metabolism Training Grant is a highly successful, multicenter and multidepartmental training program that provides M.D. and Ph.D. trainees with a firm base in state-of-the-art methodologies and to prepare them for future academic careers in metabolism research. Established investigators from several departments and a number of centers join forces to provide our trainees with a multifaceted and diverse training program.
Participating centers include the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research, the Center for Hypothalamic Research, the Advanced Imaging Research Center, the McDermott Center for Human Growth, the Center for Human Nutrition and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. Areas of expertise include systemic and cellular metabolism, diabetes, lipid biosynthesis, obesity, genetics of reproduction, and steroid hormone biosynthesis and action.
Our mentors direct highly competitive research programs of national and international stature. Our trainees can take advantage of a very strong research infrastructure that allows them to address physiological, biochemical, and cell biological problems with emerging technologies and the latest instrumentation. The 40 trainers form a tightly interconnected, highly integrated group of investigators that cover all of the relevant areas in metabolism research and a number of subspecialties in endocrine research.
Metabolism research at UT Southwestern has experienced a dramatic programmatic expansion over the past several years. The Medical Center has made a major commitment toward complementing existing areas of expertise by targeted recruitment of key personnel to fill existing gaps. The current epidemic of obesity and its pathophysiological sequelae are on the rise. We aim to train the next generation of metabolism researchers and endocrinologists to cope with this enormous public health problem and to develop innovative approaches to combat metabolic dysfunction.
- Molecular Microbiology Training Program
Funded by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Term: September 1, 2019–August 31, 2024
PI/Program Director: Julie Pfeiffer, Ph.D.
Contact: Julie.Pfeiffer@utsouthwestern.eduThe National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has funded a five-year training program at UT Southwestern to support five graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows in a progressive Molecular Microbiology Training Program (MMTP).
A particularly attractive feature of this MMTP is its departure from conventional program, or departmental-based, training to an interdisciplinary program that maintains a microbiology orientation, while broadening the scope of the training mission to include many other aspects of molecular and cell biology.
The diverse backgrounds of the 24 faculty trainers, comprised of a core group of established investigators with accomplished records and an expanding new faculty, represent interdisciplinary research programs bound by the common theme of molecular and cellular microbiology. The training faculty emanate from nine different Medical School departments and centers.
The overall objective is to train students and postdoctoral fellows for research careers in the molecular basis of microbial pathogenesis, cellular microbiology, host defense mechanisms, vaccine development, and other related areas. In general, activities toward the Ph.D. degree include:
- Required coursework, supplemented with multidisciplinary electives
- Special training in the ethical conduct of science
- Attendance at and participation in seminars, research forums, socials, and journal clubs
- Achievement on a grant application style qualifying examination
- Intensive research culminating in the doctoral dissertation
Postdoctoral fellows enroll in UT Southwestern’s Certificate Program and are provided the opportunity to consolidate basic skills, develop independence in scientific thinking and research planning, obtain specialized training in writing, and learn new areas of basic scientific inquiry and technology (e.g., translational research). Fellows also are involved in teaching, presenting journal clubs and research seminars, and contributing to the general "ferment" that drives scientific progress.
We expect that trainees who complete this program will become skilled in applying contemporary approaches to solve important problems in the medical microbiological sciences, and in improving preventive and/or therapeutic intervention strategies.
- Sleep and Circadian Rhythms Training Program
Funded by: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Term: July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2024
PI/Program Directors: Robert Greene, M.D. Ph.D. & Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D.
Contacts: Robert.Greene@utsouthwestern.edu & Joseph.Takahashi@utsouthwestern.eduThe Cellular and Systems Biology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms Training Program (SCRTP) provides comprehensive training for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to engage in effective investigation of the biology of sleep and circadian rhythms. Our trainees will receive in depth exposure to multiple, integrated, state of the art technologies and experimental approaches from world leading sleep and circadian rhythms research investigators.
Trainees will work in the context of strong collaborative interactions within the structure of the newly developed Peter O’Donnell Brain Institute. The goal is to ensure the trainees engagement in and development of independent, successful research programs that can span the all too well-known gulf from bench to bedside.
We recognize that effective sleep/wake and circadian research necessarily involves the integration across multiple biological systems, responsible for the genesis and function of sleep and circadian rhythms and are committed to providing the intellectual and environmental resources needed to successfully tackle this demanding approach.
In addition to the research mentorship described above, trainees will receive mentored experience in grant writing, communication and publication of their research, and career counseling.
SCRTP faculty stem from 10 different UT Southwestern departments and centers in both basic and translational science areas, including Neuroscience, Biochemistry, Immunology – Center for Genetics of Host Defense, Microbiology; Psychiatry, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Otolaryngology, Internal Medicine - Endocrinology, Internal Medicine - Cardiology, Internal Medicine – Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Neurology and the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Each faculty member of the SCRTP is chosen for their commitment to sleep and circadian research as demonstrated by their internationally recognized leadership in their sleep-related research field, strong funding record (including currently funding through NIH) and by having a strong commitment to the training of pre- and post-doctoral fellows.
Graduate Students
These training programs are competitive, with limited numbers of trainees accepted each year. If you are a graduate student at UT Southwestern Medical Center and interested in any of the training programs listed below, please talk with your mentor and email the contact person listed for the specific program for application details.
- Cancer Biology
Funded by: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Term: September 1, 2023–August 31, 2028
PI/PRogram Director Jerry Shay, Ph.D.
Contact: jerry.shay@utsouthwestern.eduThis predoctoral and postdoctoral training program emphasizes bench-to-bedside research encompassing state-of-the-art areas of cancer research. Along with training in the fundamentals of cancer research and sound scientific theory, trainees are provided access to methods in fundamental drug discovery using high-throughput chemical and genetic screens to define cellular networks, signal transduction pathways, DNA damage and repair responses, and nanomedicine-targeted therapeutic drug delivery using cell and animal molecular imaging.
The problem of cancer in the 21st century remains a national priority, and as such offers a substantive long-term career opportunity for the training of predoctoral and postdoctoral students. The goals of our program are to train top-quality scientists capable of conducting independent cancer research, to foster the intellectual, technical, and communication skills required to succeed in the academic or industrial arenas of today and in the future, and to provide an understanding of the basic, public health, and clinical problems of human cancer.
The ability of this training grant to bridge an existing outstanding foundation of faculty in Basic Science with newly developed Cancer Biology and Therapy Programs in the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center distinguishes it from a standardized general graduate and post-graduate educational program.
We have approximately 45 committed faculty trainers representing 16 different departments and centers at UT Southwestern. We have assembled a dedicated group of leaders that constitute the steering committee, along with administrative, intellectual, and financial support from the Director of the Cancer Center.
We have an integrated plan for the Cancer Training Program for both predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees that details all key steps in cancer education and training, including biomedical ethics and the responsible conduct of science. We recruit from a geographically broad range of pre-doctoral and postdoctoral applicants as well as underrepresented diversity trainees.
We have expanded and implemented our cancer didactic and journal-oriented courses, both basic and translational, as well as a monthly cancer center trainee meeting. We highlight our selected trainees’ accomplishments and provide additional opportunities for these trainees in addition to our standard curriculum. These include opportunities to attend meetings, and special lunches to interact with visiting faculty and to interact with each other on a regular basis.
- Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program
Funded by: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Term: July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2024
PI/Program Directors: Margaret Phillips, Ph.D. & Jennifer Kohler, Ph.D.
Contacts: margaret.phillips@utsouthwestern.edu & jennifer.kohler@utsouthwestern.eduThe goal of the Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) training program is to develop leaders of the next generation of biomedical researchers who will tackle the most compelling and challenging scientific questions, with a particular focus on topics in drug discovery.
This program leverages the unique educational and research environment at UT Southwestern Medical Center to provide chemistry and biochemistry graduate students with the scientific knowledge and collaborative prowess to work together in interdisciplinary teams. Students will be trained as experts in their individual fields of chemistry or biology, while also becoming knowledgeable about the most important principles and problems in both fields.
Organized with a drug discovery mindset, our training program equips young scientists with the fundamental knowledge and interdisciplinary skills that are needed to tackle challenging, diverse problems in biomedical research and to identify new areas of opportunity. As a guiding principle, we believe that building a strong and diverse biomedical workforce requires developing excellence in individual disciplines while fostering collaborative efforts among experts in disparate fields.
Students complete rigorous graduate training in either chemistry (Organic Chemistry Ph.D. Program) or biology (Biological Chemistry Ph.D. Program), while also developing broad knowledge of the most important principles and problems in both fields.
The CBI program is designed to meet three objectives:
- Students will become experts in their individual fields of chemistry or biology
- Students will be knowledgeable about the most important principles and problems in both fields
- Students will be skilled in communicating scientific challenges and discoveries to a wide range of individuals, from experts to laypeople
Together, these training aspects are designed to provide students with the scientific knowledge and collaborative prowess to work together in an interdisciplinary team to address the most compelling and intractable scientific questions, with the goal of developing the next generation of biomedical researchers.
“Value-added” features of the CBI training program include:
- An advanced Drug Discovery course taught by experts in academia and industry
- An improved Enzymes and Disease course that facilities interdisciplinary and collaborative science through peer-led team learning
- Personalized instruction in scientific writing, specifically aimed at funding opportunities
- Training in scientific communication through coached production of ScienceSketch YouTube videos
- Monthly meetings between CBI trainees and faculty advisory committee that offer collegial support and career enrichment opportunities
- Support for teaching and outreach activities.
Outcomes of Past Trainees
The Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) T32 began July 1, 2019. None of the appointees to this grant have yet completed their degrees. However, once appointees graduate, their professional outcomes and average time to degree will be added to this webpage.
Four CBI appointees are still in training.
- Mechanisms of Disease Training Program
Funded by: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Term: July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2024
PI/Program Director: Thomas Carroll, Ph.D.
Contact: thomas.carroll@utsouthwestern.eduThe interdisciplinary, student-focused Mechanisms of Disease and Translational Science Training Program fosters the development of Ph.D. scientists with the skills and resources necessary to succeed as basic and translational scientists in the future. It was launched with a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Med into Grad Initiative, and currently supported by an NIH funded training grant.
MoDTS students will focus on laboratory research that has the potential for translation. They will have new opportunities to study human diseases at the interface between basic and clinical sciences. They will be empowered to work with other members of scientific teams such as clinical researchers to spearhead the bidirectional translation of discoveries between the “bench” and “bedside” to improve human health.
Emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking, acquiring the breadth of knowledge needed for the rapid pace of new scientific developments, understanding and applying novel technology to explore important questions, and the value of collaboration and teamwork in all aspects of the scientific process.
The Training Program offers unique exposure to basic, translational, and clinical research that will facilitate multidisciplinary team science. Students who are accepted into the Mechanisms of Disease and Translational Science Training Program compete for positions in this T32 Training Program in the first year of their Ph.D. training.
Outcomes of Past Trainees
The Mechanisms of Disease (MoD) T32 began July 1, 2019. None of the appointees to this grant have yet had time to complete their degrees. However, once appointees graduate, their professional outcomes and average time to degree will be added to this webpage.
Thirteen MoD appointees are still in training.
- Molecular Biophysics Training Program
Funded by: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Term: July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2024
PI/Program Director: Yuh Min Chook, Ph.D.
Contact: yuhmin.chook@utsouthwestern.eduMolecular Biophysics – the application of quantitative, physical, and computational approaches to biological systems – provides a unique and interdisciplinary view into the biological world and have provided countless quantitative and detailed insights into the mechanisms, structures, interactions and dynamics of living cells along with their component macromolecules and pathways.
The Molecular Biophysics Training Program supports Ph.D. students with interests and backgrounds in physics, chemistry, and biology as they train with more than 30 faculty members conducting vigorous and multifaceted research programs in this exciting field. Using techniques as diverse as cryo-electron microscopy, NMR spectroscopy, protein crystallography, light microscopy, mass spectrometry, electrophysiology, and computational modeling, these groups seek detailed understandings of a wide variety of biological problems.
The Molecular Biophysics Training Program (MB-T32) at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center began on July 1, 2019. MB-T32 draws from a long history of excellence in training molecular biophysicists and fostering some of the most impactful and creative biophysical and structural biology research in the nation. A previous molecular biophysics training program founded in 1989 formed the basis for the larger Molecular Biophysics graduate program (MB), which is one of ten graduate programs (the others are: Biological Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Cancer Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Development & Disease, Immunology, Molecular Biophysics, Molecular Microbiology, Neuroscience, and Organic Chemistry) in the Division of Basic Science (DBS) of the UTSW Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS). Since 2019, a diverse group of 15 TGE MB students in Y2 and Y3 of PhD studies have benefitted from enhanced training through being appointed to MB-T32.
Select the Molecular Biophysics Graduate Program to view outcomes of past trainees.
- Molecular Microbiology Training Program
Funded by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Term: September 1, 2019–August 31, 2024
PI/Program Director: Julie Pfeiffer, Ph.D.
Contact: Julie.Pfeiffer@utsouthwestern.eduThe National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has funded a five-year training program at UT Southwestern to support five graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows in a progressive Molecular Microbiology Training Program (MMTP).
The MMTP departs from conventional program- or department-based training to an interdisciplinary program that maintains a microbiology orientation while including many other aspects of molecular and cell biology.
The diverse backgrounds of the 24 faculty trainers – a core group of established investigators with accomplished records and an expanding new faculty – are bound by the common theme of molecular and cellular microbiology. The training faculty comes from nine different medical school departments and centers.
The overall objective is to train students and postdoctoral fellows for research careers in the molecular basis of microbial pathogenesis, cellular microbiology, host defense mechanisms, vaccine development, and other related areas. Activities toward the Ph.D. degree include:
- Required coursework, supplemented with multidisciplinary electives
- Special training in the ethical conduct of science
- Attendance at and participation in seminars, research forums, socials, and journal clubs
- Achievement on a grant application style qualifying examination
- Intensive research culminating in the doctoral dissertation
Postdoctoral fellows enroll in UT Southwestern’s Certificate Program and can consolidate basic skills, develop independence in scientific thinking and research planning, obtain specialized training in writing, and learn new areas of basic scientific inquiry and technology (e.g., translational research). Fellows also are involved in teaching, presenting journal clubs and research seminars, and contributing to the general “ferment” that drives scientific progress.
We expect that trainees who complete this program will become skilled in applying contemporary approaches to solve important problems in the medical microbiological sciences, and in improving preventive and/or therapeutic intervention strategies.
- Sleep and Circadian Rhythms Training Program
Funded by: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Term: July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2024
PI/Program Directors: Robert Greene, M.D. Ph.D. & Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D.
Contacts: Robert.Greene@utsouthwestern.edu & Joseph.Takahashi@utsouthwestern.eduThe Cellular and Systems Biology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms Training Program (SCRTP) provides comprehensive training for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to engage in effective investigation of the biology of sleep and circadian rhythms. Our trainees will receive in depth exposure to multiple, integrated, state of the art technologies and experimental approaches from world leading sleep and circadian rhythms research investigators.
Trainees will work in the context of strong collaborative interactions within the structure of the newly developed Peter O’Donnell Brain Institute. The goal is to ensure the trainees’ engagement in and development of independent, successful research programs that can span the all too well-known gulf from bench to bedside. We recognize that effective sleep/wake and circadian research necessarily involves the integration across multiple biological systems, responsible for the genesis and function of sleep and circadian rhythms and are committed to providing the intellectual and environmental resources needed to successfully tackle this demanding approach.
In addition to the research mentorship described above, trainees will receive mentored experience in grant writing, communication and publication of their research, and career counseling.
SCRTP faculty stem from 10 different UT Southwestern departments and centers in both basic and translational science areas, including Neuroscience, Biochemistry, Immunology – Center for Genetics of Host Defense, Microbiology; Psychiatry, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Otolaryngology, Internal Medicine – Endocrinology, Internal Medicine – Cardiology, Internal Medicine – Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Neurology and the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Each faculty member of the SCRTP is chosen for their commitment to sleep and circadian research as demonstrated by their internationally recognized leadership in their sleep-related research field, strong funding record (including currently funding through NIH) and by having a strong commitment to the training of pre- and postdoctoral fellows.
