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.