Interdisciplinary Training Program in Skin Biology

Abstract
We propose a new interdisciplinary skin biology training program at the University of California,
Irvine. The Program builds on a strong group of skin biology mentors affiliated with a NIAMS-funded
Skin Biology and Disease Research Core Center (UCI Skin). The goal is to develop skin biologists
that will be highly skilled in integrating bioengineering, including imaging, and computation into their
research to make discoveries in skin biology. The four trainees will be a mixture of graduate
students (three slots), including MD-PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows (one slot), including
dermatology residents pursuing postgraduate research training. The mentors include several
investigators whose work focuses on skin biology and collaborating investigators from other scientific
disciplines. Each trainee–irrespective of whether the primary mentor is a skin biologist or from an
allied field–will pursue an interdisciplinary project at the intersection of skin biology and one of two
cross-disciplines: systems biology or bioengineering/imaging. In their research activities, the
trainees will be guided through dual mentoring by a skin biologist and a mentor from a
complementary field. In addition to laboratory-based research training, the program includes lectures
in skin biology and skin diseases, a weekly Skin Club for data presentations, seminar series, retreats
and a yearly symposium. The program also offers a menu of career development activities that can
be individually tailored to each trainee based on their interests and career goals.

Grant Number: 5T32AR080622-04
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Bogi Andersen