Texas Doctoral Bridge Program - Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. Texas State University (TxSt) and its partner in this Bridge-to-the-Doctorate Program application, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio; UTHSA), actively support and promote a range of programs designed to engage students interested in pursuing careers in biomedical research. We are partnering for a new T32 institutional training grant, the Texas Doctoral Bridge Program (TDBP), which aims to enhance the biomedical workforce by preparing and recruiting outstanding M.S. students from TxSt for competitive and high quality biomedical Ph.D. programs, such as those found at UTHSA. Over the last ten years, TxSt has established an impeccable record training biochemistry M.S. students for doctoral programs. The impact of our previous NIH R25 program was exceptional, reducing overall time-to-degree while simultaneously increasing the proportion of Biochemistry M.S. students matriculating into Ph.D. programs. Greater than 70% of the NIH-supported trainees from this R25 program were bridged to doctoral degree programs with many completing the Ph.D. and transitioning to postdoc positions or other careers of choice. Our new T32 will support 14 students per year, who are enrolled in thesis-based M.S. degree programs in departments across the College of Science and Engineering at TxSt, and will include biology, biochemistry, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science tracks. Concurrently, this collaborative training program will foster and strengthen the research and training relationship between faculty at UTHSA and TxSt. Trainees will receive rigorous training in replicability, reproducibility, and generalizability of research while conducting inter-institutional thesis projects that utilize the scientific resources at UTHSA. The skills gained in the TDBP will enhance their capability and competitiveness to gain admission, and thrive within high-caliber research doctoral programs in biomedical science. Our program objectives are to: 1) increase the numbers of students in thesis-based, biomedical M.S. degree programs at TxSt, 2) develop trainee skillsets to ensure the transition to Ph.D. programs and for long-term professional success in biomedical research careers, and 3) mentor the mentors to develop and employ high standards of rigor, ethical conduct, and collaborative behavior.
