Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Laboratory for Education in Molecular Medicine: a Dedicated Resource for Medical Student Research

  • Monograph
  • Published:
Medical Science Educator Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, Texas seated its inaugural class in 2009 and introduced a highly-integrated pre-clinical curriculum that provides our students with a solid introduction to the scientific principles of medicine, medical skills, early clinical experiences, ethics and professionalism. To further enhance their undergraduate training, all students additionally complete a scholarly concentration requirement called the Scholarly Activity and Research Program (SARP). Students can choose a wide variety of topics for this faculty-mentored activity; however, about two-thirds of the students choose projects relating to basic, clinical or translational research. To broaden the on-campus opportunities for students in these areas we have developed a research laboratory, called the Laboratory for Education in Molecular Medicine (LEMM), that is fully-dedicated for mentored SARP projects. This ‘community’ laboratory is housed in the Department of Medical Education and represents a unique model for the establishment and development of viable research projects. We discuss the evolution of the LEMM, its current organization and the challenges and opportunities in maintaining and growing this valuable resource.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wyngaarden JB. The clinical investigator as an endangered species. The New England journal of medicine. 1979 Dec 6;301(23):1254–9. PubMed PMID: 503128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Culliton BJ, D’Auria J. The physician-scientist really is an endangered species. Journal of investigative medicine: the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research. 1998 Dec;46(9):417–9. PubMed PMID: 9861771.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Rosenberg L. Physician-scientists-endangered and essential. Science. 1999 Jan 15;283(5400):331–2. PubMed PMID: 9925491.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zemlo TR, Garrison HH, Partridge NC, Ley TJ. The physician-scientist: career issues and challenges at the year 2000. FASEB journal: official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. 2000 Feb;14(2):221–30. PubMed PMID: 10657979.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Goldman E, Marshall E. Research funding. NIH grantees: where have all the young ones gone? Science. 2002 Oct 4;298(5591):40–1. PubMed PMID: 12364762.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Ley TJ, Rosenberg LE. Removing career obstacles for young physician-scientists - loan-repayment programs. The New England journal of medicine. 2002 Jan 31;346(5):368–72. PubMed PMID: 11821517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Nathan DG. Careers in translational clinical research-historical perspectives, future challenges. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association. 2002 May 8;287(18):2424–7. PubMed PMID: 11988063.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ley TJ, Rosenberg LE. The physician-scientist career pipeline in 2005: build it, and they will come. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association. 2005 Sep 21;294(11):1343–51. PubMed PMID: 16174692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Green EP, Borkan JM, Press SH, Adler SR, Nothnagle M, Parsonnet J, et al. Encouraging scholarship: medical school programs to promote student inquiry beyond the traditional medical curriculum. Academic medicine: journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. 2010 Mar;85(3):409–18. PubMed PMID: 20182113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Pfarr CM, Lacy NL, Coue M. A scholarly activity and research requirement at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. Medical Science Educator. 2011;21(1S):91–7.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Cook S, Grochowski CO, Atherton A, Laskowitz DT, Pervaiz S, Buckley E, et al. Developing physician leaders for over 50 years: the Duke medical student research experience in the US and Singapore. Medical Science Educator. 2011;21(1S):53–8.

    Google Scholar 

  12. ChichoskiKelly EM. Using research as a tool for reinforcing basic sciences in the clinical years: description of a fourth year teaching/research requirement at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Medical Science Educator. 2011;21(1S):59–62.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Aronson JF, Valbuena GA, Hellmich MR, Asimakis GK. Translational research track for medical students: developing interprofessional collaborative competencies for translational research. Medical Science Educator. 2011;21(1S):63–6.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hunt JE, Scicluna H, McNeil HP. Development and evaluation of a mandatory research experience in a medical education program: the independent learning project at UNSW. Medical Science Educator. 2011;21(1S):78–85.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Mendonca VRR, Barral-Netto M. Stimulating the formation of the physician-scientist; scientific exposure during the medical course in Brazil. Medical Science Educator. 2011; 21(1S):107–11.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Bahner I, Somboonwit C, Pross S, Collins RJ, Saporta S. Teaching science through biomedical research in an elective curriculum. Medical Science Educator. 2012;22(3S):143–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Straus SE, Straus C, Tzanetos K, International Campaign to Revitalise Academic M. Career choice in academic medicine: systematic review. Journal of general internal medicine. 2006 Dec;21(12):1222–9. PubMed PMID: 17105520. Pubmed Central PMCID: 1924755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Borges NJ, Navarro AM, Grover A, Hoban JD. How, when, and why do physicians choose careers in academic medicine? A literature review. Academic medicine: journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. 2010 Apr;85(4):680–6. PubMed PMID: 20354389.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Parsonnet J, Gruppuso PA, Kanter SL, Boninger M. Required vs. elective research and in-depth scholarship programs in the medical student curriculum. Academic medicine: journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. 2010 Mar;85(3):405–8. PubMed PMID: 20182112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Steele DJ, de la Rosa JM, Tobin BW. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. Academic medicine: journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. 2010 Sep;85(9 Suppl):S555–7. PubMed PMID: 20736629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Faculty, PLFSOM LCME Institutional Self-Study 2012.

  22. Blake DJ, Weir A, Newey SE, Davies KE. Function and genetics of dystrophin and dystrophin-related proteins in muscle. Physiological reviews. 2002 Apr;82(2):291–329. PubMed PMID: 11917091.

    Google Scholar 

  23. McNally EM, Pytel P. Muscle diseases: the muscular dystrophies. Annual review of pathology. 2007;2: 87–109. PubMed PMID: 18039094.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Meregalli M, Farini A, Belicchi M, Parolini D, Cassinelli L, Razini P, et al. Perspectives of stem cell therapy in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The FEBS journal. 2012 Dec 3. PubMed PMID: 23206279.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Verhaart IE, Aartsma-Rus A. Gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Current opinion in neurology. 2012 Oct;25(5):588–96. PubMed PMID: 22892952.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Partridge TA. Impending therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Current opinion in neurology. 2011 Oct;24(5):415–22. PubMed PMID: 21892079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Nowak KJ, Davies KE. Duchenne muscular dystrophy and dystrophin: pathogenesis and opportunities for treatment. EMBO reports. 2004 Sep;5(9):872–6. PubMed PMID: 15470384. Pubmed Central PMCID: 1299132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Nishiyama T, Takeda S. [Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-based cell therapy for muscular dystrophy: current progress and future prospects]. Brain and nerve = Shinkei kenkyu no shinpo. 2012 Jan;64(1):39–46. PubMed PMID: 22223500.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Gossen M, Bonin AL, Freundlieb S, Bujard H. Inducible gene expression systems for higher eukaryotic cells. Current opinion in biotechnology. 1994 Oct;5(5):516–20. PubMed PMID: 7765466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Takahashi K, Yamanaka S. Induction of pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryonic and adult fibroblast cultures by defined factors. Cell. 2006 Aug 25;126(4):663–76. PubMed PMID: 16904174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Park IH, Zhao R, West JA, Yabuuchi A, Huo H, Ince TA, et al. Reprogramming of human somatic cells to pluripotency with defined factors. Nature. 2008 Jan 10;451(7175):141–6. PubMed PMID: 18157115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Tedesco FS, Hoshiya H, D’Antona G, Gerli MF, Messina G, Antonini S, et al. Stem cell-mediated transfer of a human artificial chromosome ameliorates muscular dystrophy. Science translational medicine. 2011 Aug 17;3(96):96ra78. PubMed PMID: 21849666.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Darabi R, Baik J, Clee M. Kyba M, Tupler R, Perlingeiro RC. Engraftment of embryonic stem cell-derived myogenic progenitors in a dominant model of muscular dystrophy. Experimental neurology. 2009 Nov;220(1):212–6. PubMed PMID: 19682990. Pubmed Central PMCID: 2761496. Epub 2009/08/18. eng.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Phelps SF, Hauser MA, Cole NM, Rafael JA, Hinkle RT, Faulkner JA, et al. Expression of full-length and truncated dystrophin mini-genes in transgenic mdx mice. Human molecular genetics. 1995 Aug;4(8):1251–8. PubMed PMID: 7581361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Wang B, Li J, Xiao X. Adeno-associated virus vector carrying human minidystrophin genes effectively ameliorates muscular dystrophy in mdx mouse model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2000 Dec 5;97(25):13714–9. PubMed PMID: 11095710. Pubmed Central PMCID: 17641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso, TX, USA

    Curt M. Pfarr PhD, Debra Bramblett, David Osborne, Amy Trott, Heather Balsiger, Martine Coue, Richard Brower & Tanis Hogg PhD

Authors
  1. Curt M. Pfarr PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Debra Bramblett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Osborne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Amy Trott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Heather Balsiger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Martine Coue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Richard Brower
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Tanis Hogg PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Curt M. Pfarr PhD or Tanis Hogg PhD.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pfarr, C.M., Bramblett, D., Osborne, D. et al. A Laboratory for Education in Molecular Medicine: a Dedicated Resource for Medical Student Research. Med.Sci.Educ. 23 (Suppl 1), 108–118 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03341815

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03341815

Keywords

Search

Navigation