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International graduate program in molecular medicine

Final Activity Report Summary - INTEGRAMM (International graduate program in molecular medicine)

The comprehensive goal of this proposal was to create a framework of administrative, research training and educational activities, shared by four research institutions and one pharmaceutical small and medium enterprise (SME), to support the development of a highly competitive 'International graduate programme in molecular medicine' (INTEGRAMM). The operational goal of the proposal was the implementation of a pilot project involving a common set of qualified procedures to select, monitor, train and assess graduate students at multiple locations towards the achievement of an international PhD degree in molecular medicine.

The broad scientific area of the programme prospectively covered preclinical as well as translational post-genomic research, including selected aspects of drug development research and pertaining to the study of human disease at multiple levels, from molecular pathogenesis to therapeutic intervention. By being connected to renowned clinical research centres, the institutions undersigning this proposal could offer a wide array of research projects and training activities that might support such an ambitious goal and be attractive not only to students with life sciences degrees, either BSc, MSc or MPhil, but also to young medical doctors. The milestones that had to be achieved in the final 12 month period were all successfully accomplished. All but one long-term students had been admitted to the programme by 31 March 2007. The final student, being recruited from Singapore, requested a delayed registration due to difficulties in obtaining the visa. This student was successfully registered on 01 June 2007. All students, with their respective profiles, were displayed on the integramm web site. Three short-term students were selected and spent four months in host labs. A French student was hosted at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) in London, while an Italian student spent her short-term training period at the Istituto di Recerca in Biomedicina (IRB) in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

Overall, the project achieved all the prospective goals. All long term students were enrolled in the graduate programme of molecular medicine of Vita-Salute University. Two students, namely Reboldi and Volpe, graduated early in 2010. Three additional students, namely Morlino, Gottensbuheren and Whiteside, were anticipated to graduate in the fall of 2010, while the remaining five students had requested further extension and were covered by the host labs in order to complete their thesis work. Students hosted at the University of Bern (IRB in Bellinzona) and Madrid signed co-tutoring agreements with Vita-Salute University and had been, or would be, awarded a joint PhD title.

Students were exposed to eight lecture courses, many internal seminars and several international meetings, including a joint attendance to the 2009 European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) meeting in Amsterdam, where they went through lectures and interviews concerning their future career plans. In the final year of the project three meetings were organised, combining educational issues related to the study area as well as more methodological topics concerning the logic of scientific discovery and communication skills in science.