PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The Genetics of Development, Disease, and Regeneration Training Program seeks to foster a broad foundation of interdisciplinary knowledge and career development that empowers a diverse population of students to apply their training to the study and treatment of developmental diseases. To achieve this goal, the GDDR Program is grounded in five training fundamentals: 1) knowledge base, 2) research skills and innovative technology, 3) hypothesis-driven research, 4) communication skills and 5) professional and career development. The GDDR Program creates a unique training environment by combining the broad and interdisciplinary research interests of our faculty with a training plan that integrates genetic principles and mechanisms into the study of development and stem cell biology. Thirty well-funded and accomplished Training Faculty drawn from 10 basic science and clinical departments create a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary environment. This proposal for supplemental support through the INCLUDE Project seeks to provide trainees with better access to the resources and intellectual/technical expertise present in Crnic Institute and Crnic Supergroup at the University of Colorado, in order to equip young scientists with the technical and professional skills necessary to conduct rigorous and reproducible research with a focus on Down Syndrome. Trainees supported by this supplement will participate in all the activities that are designed for other GDDR T32 trainees, thereby amplifying the impact of supplement support by integrating Down syndrome topics and training into the larger GDDR Training Program. We request that three students be supported for one year as part of the INCLUDE supplement.

The Project Narrative has not since application submission. It is included here to meet system requirements. PROJECT NARRATIVE The goal of this training program is to train a diverse group of scientists to solve problems relevant to human health, including developmental diseases. Predoctoral students will learn to responsibly conduct research in genetics, developmental, cell and stem cell biology and gain important communication and professional skills.