Interhemispheric Research/Training in infectious Disease

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The training of biomedical scientists from Brazil continues to be the focus of the renewal of this training grant. Scientists at Einstein have well established long standing research collaborations with Brazil. This grant has now trained over 20 individuals from Brazil on research techniques for infectious diseases. This training has and will continue to enhance the capabilities to combat the intractable infectious diseases endemic in Brazil. The proposed renewal of this training program will build upon the successes of the previous granting period. The goal of this renewal application is to harness state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and technical skills to augment programs to prevent, treat and control the major infectious diseases causing significant morbidity and mortality in Brazil. We will focus on infections endemic to Brazil for which there are existing collaborative interactions between Brazilian scientists and institutions and the scientists at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The participating Brazilian co-mentors are at the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, and the Foundation Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ). The diseases included in this training program are: fungal diseases (i.e., histoplasmosis, sporotrichosis) parasitic diseases (Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis and malaria) and bacterial diseases (legionnaire's disease and tuberculosis) which are endemic to Brazil. The proposed training program includes both didactic and laboratory components, as well as a formal course in ethics and the responsible conduct of research. Participants will include those coming for either short or long term periods of time, predoctoral students and post-doctoral fellows. Our renewal application is innovative in its use of the established research collaborations and education programs at Einstein. In addition, our research program crosses traditional institutional lines and is set up as a thematic approach involving more than one institution. We believe that this training program will contribute significantly to the long term goal of building sustainable research capacity in the relevant endemic infectious diseases of Brazil.