Education plays a key role in the mission of the Texas Children’s Microbiome Center. The TCMC is home to several students and post docs, and our faculty members work with students, fellows, and other trainees from across the Texas Medical Center and beyond, including individuals affiliated with:
- Baylor College of Medicine’s Clinical Scientist Training Program
- Clinical M.D. Fellows at Texas Children’s Hospital
- Baylor College of Medicine’s Graduate Education Programs
- MD Anderson Cancer Center Undergraduate Program in Molecular Genetic Technology
- MD Anderson Cancer Center Graduate Program in Diagnostic Genetics
- Baylor College of Medicine’s Summer Medical and Research Training Program for undergraduates
- International students from academic institutions in Thailand, Spain, Australia and Turkey
Training Topics
Training may involve exposure to a variety of topics including, but not limited to:
- Biobanking
- Conventional microbiological techniques
- Clinical laboratory regulatory standards
- Metagenomics applications of next-generation sequencing
- General molecular techniques
- Metabolomics and proteomics
- Bioinformatics
- Biostatistics
Other Training Opportunities
Therapeutic Microbiology Fellowship
The program is intended to merge the clinical and research aspects of microbiology and prepare fellows for a variety of future career options. Conventional medical microbiology, molecular microbiology, and application to patient testing and treatment will be integrated to provide a solid foundation in therapeutic microbiology. Beyond basic clinical and research studies, the fellows will also explore the use of cutting-edge technology (e.g., metagenomics applications of next-generation sequencing), and apply these technologies to patient care, such as in the exploration and subsequent transplantation of the gut microbiome in a variety of gastrointestinal diseases. Fellows will also gain valuable experience (to both the clinical and research fields) in the area of biobanking by managing the PeriBank efforts and aiding in the coordination needed between multiple laboratories, clinical services, and individuals. Interested candidates should contact the Program Director, Ruth Ann Luna, Ph.D.
Bioinformatics Workshops on Microbial Community Characterization and Metagenomics
Led by Emily Hollister, Ph.D. and her team, these workshops are geared toward graduate students, post docs, and investigators who are interested in learning to analyze their own sequence data. Past topics have included analysis of the 16S rRNA gene for microbial community characterization, use of the Genboree Microbiome Toolset , an introduction to command line computing, and getting started with QIIME . For information about upcoming workshops, please contact Dr. Emily Hollister.
Students and post docs interested in working with the TCMC should contact individual faculty members directly.
