The UC Davis enhanced Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (eMCDB) T32 Training Program aims to contribute to continued scientific discovery and economic growth in life sciences by providing exceptional training to its graduate student Trainees, equipping them with highly portable skills that will fuel their careers in the national biomedical workforce. The primary goal of the eMCDB Training Program at UC Davis is to ensure the success of our predoctoral Trainees in graduate school and prepare them for impactful careers in the biomedical workforce by nurturing productive, rigorous, resilient scientists and confident communicators. A secondary goal of the eMCDB Program is to enhance the training and career development of a broad cohort of PhD students at UC Davis by extending our activities far beyond our Program. 

The program funds 18 PhD student Trainees, making it the largest NIH-supported training program at UC Davis. A dynamic and experienced team of 69 Faculty Trainers from 18 academic departments provide our training. These trainers, carefully selected from the top molecular, cellular, and developmental biologists on campus, offer wide-ranging interdisciplinary training in basic and translational life science research. Each has an active research program, a successful track record of mentoring, and a commitment to fostering safe, inclusive, and supportive training environments. Trainees are selected from the most qualified graduate students across five affiliated Graduate Groups through a holistic process that recognizes and values their own cultural individualities.  

Training is accomplished by integrating Graduate Group coursework and mentored PhD dissertation research in individual laboratories with a coherent set of curricular and training activities developed by this Program to support each Trainee’s growth along skillsets critical for graduate training and lifelong career progression: scientific rigor, communication, wellness and resilience, mentoring and career development.  

The effectiveness of our Program’s activities are regularly and rigorously evaluated to allow Program leadership to adapt and ensure that Program goals are met. Our activities, whenever possible, are offered to all graduate students in biological sciences at UC Davis, consistent with our goal to enhance training and career development broadly, and to build community.