NSs Function of Rift Valley Fever Virus MP-12 Vaccine Strain

Laboratory Biosafety Containment Training Program

Description: The purpose of the WRCE career development plan is to offer research and research support training opportunities, including individual Career Development projects and group Career Development activities. The individual Career Development Program will target junior faculty who wish to pursue a career in infectious diseases research. The overall goals will be to increase and strengthen the trainee’s research skills and knowledge through a carefully mentored, individually tailored research program and research support activities. Multidisciplinary mentorship of career development trainees will be provided to ensure that research activities are adequately focused, and to provide assistance for the transition from basic discovery to product development, and eventually clinical evaluation.
The overall goals of the Group Career Development program will be to increase and strengthen the trainee’s knowledge and technical skills to support biodefense and emerging infectious diseases research. This program is intended to provide multidisciplinary opportunities for trainees, to ensure that the group activities are adequately focused, and to assist the transition from basic discovery to product development and clinical evaluation. In the initial grant year, group Career Development activities will be organized as a biosafety containment laboratory training program that will be designed to provide training opportunities to biodefense and emerging infectious disease researchers, including faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and technicians to learn how to safely conduct research in biosafety level 2, 3, and/or 4 laboratories.
A systematic and rigorous administrative and scientific management plan will be employed to allow for the selection of the most relevant and scientifically sound proposals, and for effectively monitoring and evaluating the program. The WRCE Director will have overall responsibility for the group Career Development activities and will designate the WRCE Associate Director to manage the plan. The Associate Director will be supported by the WRCE Program Administrator and other key WRCE Administrative Core personnel. All group career development projects will be evaluated for usage and value to the WRCE program. In addition, the plan will insure that the solicitation of project proposals is open and announced publicly.
One Career Development Project has been selected to date, and is in the Vaccine Development for Arboviral and Emerging Viral Diseases theme (Theme 2). It is CD 002, “NSs Function of Rift Valley Fever Virus MP-12 Vaccine Strain”, and the project leader is Tetsuro Ikegami of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The Group Career Development program has one activity, focused on biocontainment training. It is CD 001, “Laboratory Biosafety Containment Training Program”, led by Sophie Brocard at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.