Faculty Mentors

The MinnCResT Program's faculty mentors represent over 30 disciplines, ranging from Neuroscience to Oral Biology to Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology & Genetics.

Faculty mentors work with MinnCResT fellows throughout their training. Fellows work in their mentors' labs but are paid through the MinnCResT Program. The mentor and fellow submit an annual report describing training experiences and interdisciplinary elements, research progress, and performance. All reports and trainee programs are reviewed and approved by the Steering Committee to ensure compliance with the program's mission. The Steering Committee consists of the faculty mentors of all current MinnCResT fellows, plus the program directors and staff.

To build community, mentor faculty are invited to the fall and early summer MinnCResT research symposia to present, listen, and enjoy, and to be feted at the dinner and other events. Costs are also offset for mentors to present seminars at partner institutions, and meet with colleagues and interested prospective applicants. Our mentors appreciate the several opportunities that our program provides for fellows and themselves. From this perspective, mentors are also heavily involved in the review of applications and on-campus interviews of candidate fellows. Indeed, they often nominate their own candidates for positions in the program and also request to mentor other prospects.

The MinnCResT Program's criteria for mentorship are:

• Full member of the graduate faculty
• Established, extramurally supported research program
• Commitment to strong research training in spirit of the program
  • Interdisciplinary minors and related fields
  • Translational research experiences
  • Integrated research and clinical training for clinical scientists

Research training areas and mentor groups
In the MinnCResT Program, the mentor faculty members are assembled into research training areas (RTAs) to highlight disciplinary and interdisciplinary research strengths offered as training opportunities. The RTAs reflect current research activities of interest and are independent of departmental or graduate faculty affiliations; some mentors are members of more than one RTA. The seven RTAs are:

• Neuroscience
• Microbiology and Immunology
• Cancer Biology
• Developmental Biology, Molecular Genetics, and Stem Cells
• Clinical Research
• Translational Genetics and Communications Disorders
• Genomics, Proteomics, Structural Biology, and Computational Biology
• Nanotechnology, Materials Sciences, and Tissue Engineering

Neuroscience

Microbiology and Immunology

Cancer Biology

Developmental Biology, Molecular Genetics, and Stem Cells

Clinical Research

Translational Genetics and Communication Disorders

Genomics, Proteomics, Structural Biology, and Computational Biology

Nanotechnology, Material Sciences, and Tissue Engineering