On the Scene with the Associate Dean: BIOTRAIN 720

A recent shift for NIH-funded T32 graduate training programs, especially those supported by the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), has been to emphasize trainee focused educational objectives. PhD students in T32-funded programs are expected to attain technical (research) operational (skills), and professional (career) competencies that prepare them for entering diverse careers. An expected operational and professional competency is the ability to “communicate scientific research methodologies and findings to a wide variety of audiences (e.g., discipline-specific, across disciplines, and the public)”, particularly scientific writing. 

About 11 years ago, Dr. Douglas Marchuk, James B. Duke Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and UPGG Director at the time, developed what has become the biomedical PhD programs’ flagship grant writing course. Marchuk explained the training need, “in academics, faculty members spend much of their time and effort writing grant proposals to fund their research. And yet, we felt that this important skill was not being taught…it is critically important that the students learn what is expected of a written grant proposal from the perspective of the reviewers”. 

The grant writing course also helps students to develop their thesis research projects and prepare them for the preliminary exam. Marchuk believes the two objectives of the course reinforce each other. “Having students write and review their own proposals leads to stronger proposals and a knowledge of what is important for reviewing them,” he explains. 

The course covers basic components of an NIH grant, strategies for writing compelling Specific Aims pages and Significance and Innovation sections, principles of study section grant review, and how to write and respond to a grant review critique. Small group sessions, i.e. mock study sections of up to 12 students and one study section faculty chair, provide students with interactive group feedback on Specific Aims and Significance and Innovation sections. Mock study sections also review full proposals in NIH study section fashion. Each original proposal and its revision receive formal critiques by a guest faculty reviewer and two student study section members. Marchuk notes “we include guest faculty reviewers to model what goes on during real grant review, but in the end, the students are the most rigorous reviewers.” 

After ~5 years of offering this course to MGM and UPGG students who extolled its value in preparing for fellowship submissions and prelims, other SoM PhD programs expressed interest in the course. Since 2015, the course enrolls not only UPGG and MGM trainees, but also students in Neurobiology, Pharmacology, Molecular Cancer Biology, Cell Biology, Immunology, Pathology, Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health PhD programs. As the course expanded, the logistics of organizing multiple study sections and securing faculty reviewers became increasingly complex. In 2020, OBGE partnered with Marchuk to offer the class centrally to all SoM PhD programs under the course code BIOTRAIN 720

For Fall 2021, 70 students enrolled in the course and 59 faculty participated as lecturers, guest reviewers, or study section chairs. To all the students who took BIOTRAIN 720, you worked incredibly hard both writing and critiquing proposals, and I thank you for your diligence and commitment to elevating your critical thinking and scientific writing skills. I also acknowledge the faculty who provided expert feedback on scientific content and grantsmanship – without your participation, this course is impossible. 

Finally, as BIOTRAIN 720 Course Director and chair of the Genomic Engineering, Epigenetics and Disease study section, I offer special gratitude to the faculty who devoted 18+ contact hours by serving as study section chairs: Brigid Hogan (Cell, Stem Cell and Developmental Biology), Micah Luftig, Jorn Coers, and John Rawls (Infectious Disease and Immunology), Steve Lisberger and Jeremy Kay (Neurobiology), Doug Marchuk (Genetics and Genomics), and Bernard Mathey-Prevot (Cancer Biology and Pharmacology). 

As the semester and another successful iteration of BIOTRAIN 720 ends, I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and all the best for the New Year.

THANK YOU TO 2021 BIOTRAIN 720 FACULTY PARTICIPANTS!
(* denotes Study Section Chairs/Co-Chairs):

Soman Abraham 

Allison Ashley-Koch 

Gerald Blobe 

Nicolas Brunel 

Nicole Calakos 

Romain Cartoni 

Jen-Tsan Ashley Chi 

Jorn Coers* 

Chris Counter 

Greg Crawford 

Lawrence David 

Fred Dietrich 

Anita Disney 

Cagla Eroglu 

Greg Field 

Scott Floyd 

Lindsey Glickfield 

Simon Gregory 

Brent Hanks 

Nick Heaton 

Matt Hilton 

Matt Hirschey 

Brigid Hogan* 

Cort Hull 

Jeremy Kay* 

Cindy Kuhn

Andrew Landstrom 

Steve Lisberger* 

Craig Lowe 

Micah Luftig* 

Dave MacAlpine 

Doug Marchuk* 

Bernard Mathey-Prevot*

Donald McDonnell 

Eva Naumann 

Chris Newgard 

Ann Marie Pendergast 

John Rawls* 

Tim Reddy 

Jessica Sawyer 

Dave Sherwood 

Mari Shinohara 

Debby Silver 

Scott Soderling 

Beth Sullivan* 

Purushothama Tata 

David Tobin 

Nina Tsvetanova 

Raphael Valdivia 

Xiao-Fan Wang 

Anne West 

Andy West 

Laura Wingler 

Kris Wood 

Greg Wray 

Colleen Wu 

Huanghe Yang 

Tso-Pang Yao 

Zhao Zhang