DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This program will provide pre- and postdoctoral trainees with a solid academic background in cellular and molecular immunology, including relevant coursework, regularly scheduled seminars and journal clubs, and rigorous laboratory training with the goal of preparing our students for careers in immunology research. The 21 Immunology Training Program (ITP) faculty represent a broad range of departmental affiliations and research interests but most have either primary or secondary appointments in the Department of Microbiology and/or Pathology. Predoctoral students will be jointly admitted to one of these departments where they will follow a modified curriculum specifically designed for students in the ITP. However, the major focus for pre- and especially postdoctoral students will be an innovative, challenging and focused research experience. This will be accomplished by coupling research training in the laboratory of one of the training faculty with supportive advisory input from other ITP members. Particular areas of expertise represented by the ITP faculty include regulation of B cell development and function, transcriptional regulation of gene activity, mechanisms of lymphocyte transformation, immune responses to microbial infections and immune evasion factors predisposing to autoimmune disease, cytokine biology, cell activation and apoptosis, immunotherapy and vaccine development, toll-like receptors and innate immunity. We intend to support eight predoctoral and four postdoctoral students each year. Trainees will be selected based on their academic record and previous evidence of a commitment and talent for basic research. Special efforts will be made to recruit minority and MD-PhD candidates. The major goals of the program will be: (1) to recruit students of the highest quality, including underrepresented minorities; (2) to provide these trainees with a multidisciplinary background in the immunological sciences, coupled with intensive laboratory training in a particular research topic; (3) to teach the trainees how to ask relevant and feasible research questions; (4) to instill these trainees with a sense of ethical behavior; (5) to develop effective written and oral communication skills among the trainees; and (6) to facilitate collaborative interactions among both students and faculty of the ITP.