Vanderbilt Molecular Endocrinology Training Program

Molecular endocrinology includes ligand-receptor interactions, signal generation and transduction, the molecular actions of intracellular signals, and the cellular and physiological consequences of hormone action. Vanderbilt has a long tradition of excellent research in these areas. Indeed, some of the important fundamental concepts (cAMP as a second messenger, Earl Sutherland; growth factor receptors as tyrosine kinases, Stanley Cohen; the regulation of glucose uptake by insulin, C.R. Park and Tetsuro Kono) were established here. Sutherland and Cohen both won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries.

The field of molecular endocrinology is clearly of central relevance to multiple human diseases, most notably obesity and diabetes. Continued progress towards understanding and curing these and many other diseases requires that the next generation of scientists be given the knowledge and skills to perform independent research. Providing this training is the goal of the METP.

The METP supports eight pre-doctoral and four post-doctoral trainees each year. Funding covers the cost of stipends, health care and travel to attend appropriate research meetings. For pre-doctoral trainees funding also covers the cost of tuition.

^{This Diabetes Research and Training Center Pre-Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Training Program is supported by an NIH training grant (NIH grant T32 DK07563) and by the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (NIH grant DK20593).}