A Multidisciplinary Stem Cell Training Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute, A Critical Component of the La Jolla Mesa Educational Network

In our 1st year, we achieved our goal of establishing Sanford Burnham Prebys’ (SBP’s) TRAINING PROGRAM as one of the “gears” in a seamlessly intermeshing “LA JOLLA MESA STEM CELL EDUCATIONAL NETWORK” in which the complementary & synergistic strengths & resources of the 3 neighboring CIRM training programs – ours (which also includes San Diego State University), UCSD’s, & Scripps – are pooled & leveraged to create a broad & deep learning experience for trainees (PhD candidates, postdoctoral scientists, & clinical fellows). Our Program began this 1st year with a rigorous selection process for grad student & post-doctoral fellows. For the PhD student call, we received 23 applications & chose 7, & for the postdoctoral call we received 13 applications & chose 4. Among the total of 36 applications for this 1st year’s call, 55.6% were males & 44.4% females; among those who competed successfully, 40% were males & 19% females. For race/ethnicity, the pool of applicants was 47.2% Caucasian, 33.3% Asian, 16.7% Hispanic, & 2.8% Asian/Native Hawaiian. Among those that competed successfully, 23.5% were Caucasian, 41.7% Asian, & 33.3% Hispanic. The SBP call for Clinical Fellows is going out now to be able to synchronize with the medical/hospital academic year which spans July-to-July, hence ensuring that we have a fair & open competitive process that can attract the greatest number of applicants who are able to obtain protected time from their clinical obligations to devote to benchwork. We plan to enroll all trainees in an Alumni group (which obviously will grow each year) for continued participation throughout the 5 years of the Program as well as to engage their participation as mentors & role models. Trainees spent their 1st months settling into their research projects in their respective labs as well as constituting individualized committees to monitor progress, provide advice, & render assessments SBP grad students participated in individualized tutorials. A hallmark of SBP’s unique graduate program is that it employs a “European” model of individualized, personalized tutorial-based training & rapid research immersion. All trainees have, or are in the process of, participating in required didactic courses, which include a Mesa-wide core course entitled “STEM CELLS & ETHICS”, an interdisciplinary lecture/discussion course developed for the Network & taught by faculty from all of the Institutions on the Mesa. In addition, SBP grad students particiated in courses on “Responsible Conduct in Scientific Research” & “Modern Drug Discovery Technologies”. The latter course placed an emphasis on showing how stem cells can model diseases and/or form the basis of drug discovery assays. In other words, assay development & high-throughput technology – a particular strength of SBP & an emerging field within stem cell research – was emphasized, with the goal of making our trainees uniquely competitive for future academic or biotech jobs. All trainees also began attending monthly seminars of the “SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STEM CELL CONSORTIUM” (hybrid sessions which are also recorded by UC-TV & mounted on YouTube) that allow attendees to be exposed to the work of cutting-edge scientists world-wide & interact with international thought leaders). They also began attending Monthly Mesa-wide “BEDSIDE-TO-BENCH TUTORIALS”, in which trainees are presented with an actual patient case and are taught, in a Socratic method, not only to correlate biology with disease states, but are also stimulated to generate novel hypotheses that they learn to test rigorously in informative, well-controlled experiments at the bench. In our recently completed “MESA-WIDE SCIENTIFIC RETREAT" trainees had the opportunity to see the emergence of common research themes across the Mesa, helping to catalyze inter-lab & inter-institutional collaborations & dialogue; some of those common themes included defective intra-cellular organelle function across disease models; the use of 3-dimensional & bioengineered models; high-throughput drug screening & discovery; developmental aberrations that might underly even adult diseases. Important, as well, was seeing that retreat participants reflected the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Research to which SBP and the entire Network are committed.

We have established SBP’s SCHOLARS PROGRAM as a critical “gear” in a seamlessly intermeshing “LA JOLLA MESA STEM CELL EDUCATIONAL NETWORK” in which the complementary/synergistic strengths & resources of the 3 neighboring CIRM training programs – ours (which also includes SDSU), UCSD’s, & Scripps – are pooled & leveraged to create a broad & deep learning experience for PhD candidates, postdocs, & clinical fellows). There was a rigorous selection process. For the PHD STUDENT call, we received 12 applications & chose 6; for the POSTDOC call, we received 9 applications & chose 2. We also enrolled 2 CLINICIAN-SCIENTISTS, each for 2 years of “protected” time from their hospital obligations to devote to benchwork. Their projects entail modeling diseases that they encounter in their practice using patient-derived hiPSCs: congenital heart disease & lung disease, respectively. Among this year’s 24 applications, 61% were females & 39% males; 52% were Caucasian, 39% Asian, 4.3 Hispanic, and 4.3% Mexican/Filipino. With some scholars starting to “graduate”, we have begun an ALUMNI GROUP for continued participation in the Program as mentors & role models. Each trainee has a project in the lab of their research mentor but also has an individualized committee of faculty not directly in the lab to help monitor progress, provide advice, & render assessments. A hallmark of SBP’s unique grad program is that it employs a “European” model of individualized, personalized tutorial-based training & rapid research immersion. In addition to tutorials, trainees participate in required didactic courses, which include a Mesa-wide core course entitled “STEM CELLS & ETHICS”, an interdisciplinary course developed and taught by faculty from all of the Mesa Institutions. In addition, SBP students take courses on “RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH” & “MODERN DRUG DISCOVERY TECHNOLOGIES”. The latter course emphasizes using stem cells to model diseases & provide a basis for drug discovery assays. (Assay development & high-throughput technology – a particular strength of SBP & an emerging field within stem cell research – makes our trainees uniquely competitive for academic or biotech jobs. Apropos to preparing our scholars for their future, another course is “FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP: CORE CONCEPTS FOR BUILDING YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE”. All trainees attend monthly seminars of the “SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STEM CELL CONSORTIUM” (hybrid sessions that are also recorded & broadcast by UC-TV & on YouTube) & allow attendees to be exposed to the work of cutting-edge scientists worldwide & interact with international thought leaders). They also attend monthly Mesa-wide “BEDSIDE-TO-BENCH ROUNDS”, at which trainees are presented with an actual patient case & are taught, in a Socratic method, not only to correlate biology with disease states but are also stimulated to generate novel hypotheses which they learn to test rigorously in informative, well-controlled experiments at a “mock” bench. Some of these sessions are led by our Clinical Fellows, who also take trainees to shadow them in the hospital & interact with patients. Although our scholars participate in SBP’s internal trainee retreat, the CIRM-funded “LA JOLLA MESA STEM CELL EDUCATIONAL NETWORK” holds its annual RETREAT wherein trainees from all 3 Mesa Scholars programs hear presentations from their peers at other institutions & note the emergence of common research themes, helping to catalyze inter-lab & inter-institutional collaborations & dialogue. Some of those themes included the use of 3D & bioengineered models; genetic manipulation using small molecules to alter plasticity, cell fate, and oncogenic pathways; high-throughput screening & drug discovery; developmental aberrations; and neurorepair. The retreat concluded with a poster session & a career development roundtable. We fielded suggestions for improving the Program. Important, as well, was seeing that retreat participants reflected the diversity to which SBP & the Network are committed. Diversity was reflected in sex, race, ethnic background, & inclusion of scholars with disabilities. An upcoming full-day symposium on understanding & modeling rare diseases will be an opportunity for trainees to interact directly with patients & their families. SBP’s Scholar Program is coming to reflect a defining characteristic of the Institute as a whole – an emphasis on translational science. It is this focus that makes our Clinical Fellows sub-program so unique & successful. SBP’s teaching style – instant immersion into research – makes it ideal for clinicians who wish to learn to do stem cell-based benchwork immediately. Indeed, inspired & catalyzed by CIRM’s innovative institution of the “Clinical Fellow” concept, SBP’s grad school is contemplating pioneering a unique program in which established clinicians may go on to earn PhDs.