Friday, May 23, 2025
5/23/2025
HBCU/MSI Mentored Research Program in the Structural Biology of Human Pathogens - Project Summary Meharry Medical College is continuing its mission in training underrepresented minority students for diseases that disproportionately impact underserved communities. As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, infectious diseases continue to cause a global humanitarian and economic burden. The most effective way to combat the continued emergence of infectious diseases is to have a robust drug development pipeline at the ready. The training for scientists in this drug development pipeline to combat infectious diseases needs to include structural biology and students traditionally underrepresented in biomedical sciences. To strengthen professional and scientific skills to enhance scientific productivity, particularly in the field of structural biology of human pathogens, novel programs, such as the one proposed are needed. The proposed HBCU/MSI Mentored Research Program in the Structural Biology of Human Pathogens is a 10- week summer program will provide an intensive, hands-on research experience for students (community college, undergraduate, medical) that will deliver training and education in the structural biology of infectious disease proteins. Research training will be provided by a diverse faculty consisting of experienced structural biology investigators from Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A nationwide search will be conducted to select 10-16 students per year who are interested in pursuing careers in medicine and biomedical science related to NIAID. Student research projects will focus on structures on human pathogens, provide by our partnership with Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Diseases (SSGCID). Student education will encompass the fundamentals of structural biology provided in a mini-course and mentored through the solving of protein structures. This exciting and innovative program will give each student participant the full workflow of solving a protein structure from prediction to expression all the way through to structure determination and publication. As a collaborator, Black In Biophysics will assign a Career Mentor to each participant and students will participate in career development workshops to explore career options, create individual development plans, and obtain information needed to apply and successfully gain entrance into Ph.D. and M.D. training programs. At the end of the 10-week program, students will have an opportunity to create oral and poster presentations describing their research and present their research findings internally during the Summer Research Symposium and externally at one national conference. Program directors and staff will track participants through their undergraduate/medical and post graduate training to evaluate the extent to which program goals were met and identify areas for improvement. Evaluations from research mentors and program directors/chairs will also be used to assess and improve the program.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).