ASBMB program for MOSAIC scholars
The ASBMB is excited to leverage its considerable organizational and scholarly resources to implement a National Institutes of Health-funded UE5 program (UE5GM139192) to support K99/R00 MOSAIC (Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers) scholars. The program will:
- Build a cohesive community of practice in which MOSAIC scholars will be paired with mentors with established records of scientific, funding and mentoring success and experience in culturally competent coaching practices.
- Provide a suite of career-development opportunities and sponsorship to support the personal and professional development of MOSAIC scholars. These activities will foster networking within a cross-institutional community of scholars, and polish skills in the art of science communication, proposal writing and laboratory management.
- Enhance professional networks of MOSAIC scholars via the Early Career Reviewer program with the Journal of Biological Chemistry editorial board, linkages through the Maximizing Access Committee and, more broadly, the ASBMB community.
- Enhance institutional accountability for supporting career advancement of MOSAIC scholars by convening forums to share evidence-based best practices for improving mentoring, persistence, recruitment and retention of URM scientists.
Anchored by the Maximizing Access Committee, the ASBMB MOSAIC program also taps into programming developed by the Education and Professional Development Committee as well as the Science Outreach and Communication Committee to provide customized career-development support to the MOSAIC scholars.
What is MOSAIC?
The MOSAIC program is part of the NIH’s efforts to enhance diversity within the academic biomedical research workforce, and is designed to facilitate the transition of promising postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds into independent faculty careers in research-intensive institutions. Learn more about the program
Key activities
Years 1 & 2
- Postdoc career minisymposium, including networking with speakers and ASBMB postdoc members
- Publication/presentation best practices training
- Art of Science Communication training
- Skill building: interviewing and presenting chalk talks
- Oral spotlight presentation at ASBMB annual meeting
- Maximizing Access Committee networking
Years 3 & 4
- IMAGE grant writing workshop
- Lab management workshop
- "Mentoring and Diversity Building Best Practices" forum at ASBMB annual meeting for scholars and mentors
- Optional advocacy and education fellows training
- Maximizing Access Committee networking
Year 5+
- Training in culturally competent mentoring
- Scientific presentation at ASBMB annual meeting
- "Ethics of Peer Review" training
- Join JBC editorial board as Early Career Reviewer
- Symposium on diversity at ASBMB annual meeting
- Maximizing Access Committee and JBC Editorial Board networking
The fourth cohort of ASBMB MOSAIC scholars
Donovan Argueta
University of California, Irvine
Project: Nutrition-based interventions to ameliorate pain in sickle cell disease
Rene Arvola
Ohio State University
Investigating UPF3 paralog function in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and genetic compensation
Cassandra Clift
Harvard University
Defining epigenetic regulation of translational and post-translational modification signaling in aortic valve stenosis via multi-omics approaches
Bryan Cruz
Scripps Research Institute
Extended amygdala somatostatin role in post-traumatic stress and alcohol use disorder
Wagner Dantas
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
The role of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 in sarcopenic obesity
Stanna Dorn
California Institute of Technology
Access to strained rings and heterocycles: Applications in the synthesis of bacterial metabolites and chemical building blocks
Katie Dunleavy
University of Minnesota
Defining mechanisms governing MYC stability and its modulation by aurora kinase A
Rebecca Faulkner
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Elucidating the sterol-sensing mechanisms that regulate lipid metabolism
Kasey Girven
University of Washington
Decoding neuropeptide S modulation of OFC-mediated reward seeking
Elizabeth Kaweesa
University of Illinois Chicago
Pharmacological potential of combined translation and autophagy inhibition in high grade serous ovarian cancer
Leonila Lagunes
University of California, Los Angeles
Understanding eukaryotic proteasome assembly
Diego Pedroza
Baylor College of Medicine
Characterization of the metastatic TIME by subcellular spatial profiling
Program directors
Ruma Banerjee
- ASBMB Maximizing Access Committee
- Vincent Massey Professor of Biological Chemistry
- University of Michigan
- rbanerjee@asbmb.org
- 732-660-988
Kirsten F. Block
- Director of Education, Professional Development and Outreach
- ASBMB
- kblock@asbmb.org
Advisory board
Natalie Ahn
- Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry
- University of Colorado at Boulder
Vahe Bandarian
- ASBMB Maximizing Access Committee
- Professor of Chemistry
- The University of Utah
Squire Booker
- HHMI Investigator
- Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Pennsylvania State University
Enrique M. De La Cruz
- Professor and Chair of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
- Yale University
Sonia C. Flores
- ASBMB Maximizing Access Committee
- Professor of Medicine
- University of Colorado–Denver
Richard McGee
- Associate Dean for Professional Development and Professor of Medical Education
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Related resources
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