Year 5
The training program funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine continues to be the centerpiece of the stem cell research program. Trainees are involved in research in many schools of the campus including biological sciences, medicine and engineering and are dissecting questions associated with the use of stem cells for regenerative medicine. The availability of such a training program has been of enormous benefit in recruiting new faculty since they see the availability of support for new trainees. Through this training grant funding, the trainees have been able to attend many national stem cell and regenerative medicine meetings which has allowed them to both present their data and to get feedback from experts in the field. The trainees have also participated in many public outreach activities in which they have had the opportunity to present and explain their work to a lay audience. With public funding of research we feel it is a responsibility to describe our work to the people who fund it. Moreover, the ability to describe science to a lay audience for fundraising purposes is becoming an important aspect of scientific training. In this reporting period we also organized a two-day workshop for trainees in which they were provided with new types of training and career advice. We recognize that not all our trainees will end up in academia and require training to broaden their experiences. Alumni from the university took part in that event presenting experiences in intellectual property law, teaching, clinical research, biotech opportunities and working in big pharmaceutical companies. In addition the students learned how to present an elevator pitch, took part in a collaborative research exercise and had a lecture on founding biotech companies. The students, postdocs and clinical fellows have also published many important papers describing their work which have advanced the field of regenerative medicine.