New Program for Training of Biomedical Scientists

A $4-million training program for graduate students has been set up, pooling the teaching resources of UC San Diego, La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation, the Scripps Research Institute and Salk Institute.

Beginning in September, 1992, 35 fellowships will be awarded each year over the next five years to UCSD graduate students studying basic biomedical sciences. The training program is funded by a $4-million grant from the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust.

“The Markey Fellows will work side by side with scientists who are pushing back medical boundaries through their investigations in cellular and molecular biology,” said Nobel Laureate George E. Palade, dean for scientific affairs with the University of California at San Diego’s School of Medicine.

Those eligible for the fellowship will include students who have been accepted to UCSD’s graduate programs in biomedical sciences, neurosciences, molecular pathology, biology or chemistry. Each Markey Fellow will be granted a stipend to cover tuition, living and travel expenses. Their training will include tutorials with the 100 faculty members participating from all four institutions.

Palade and 17 other scientists involved with shaping the program hope it will expose students to medical problems and show how basic research has offered solutions to those problems.

Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti, president and scientific director of the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation, said the prospect of the four institutions collaborating is as interesting as the program itself.

The fellowship “will be an exciting new resource for all of us,” Ruoslahti said.