Core Curriculum Course

Our Core Curriculum Course is designed to teach students the responsible conduct of research and to introduce research students to practical aspects of research. The emphasis of this training is to communicate detailed technical information as well as training of students with limited or no prior experience in everyday activities associated with the research process. The students learn about ethical issues in conducting human, animal and DNA studies, chemical and biohazard safety and best practices in the laboratory. It also includes elementary biostatistics concepts and available resources in information retrieval, data management, and storage. The course is scheduled as an intensive five-day course at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institution at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA. The training consists of a series of separated sessions, each prepared by a different faculty member individually. The training combines didactic information, with subsequent practical‐oriented sessions, such as tours of the vivarium, participation in a lab safety inspection, a training exercise in research library search techniques, etc. Topics covered include ethics inhuman subject research, practical aspects of animal husbandry, radiation safety in the medical research environment, computing in biomedicine, using the biomedical library, conflict of interests, mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships, and responsible authorship and publication.