A new research institute at the University of Washington is bringing together scientists from multiple disciplines to translate immunological insights into clinical advances for treatment of human diseases. The Institute for Translational Immunology will feature research “hubs” specializing in Neuroscience, Genome Sciences, Protein Design, Metabolomics, and Human/Clinical Studies, as well as Immunology. Each research hub will contribute experts and technologies from its subfield, breaking down barriers to interdisciplinary projects, and facilitating new approaches and angles in immunology research.
Key to the mission of ITI is a new program for scientific trainees: ITI laboratories will be connected by a network of funded postdoctoral scholars, who in addition to their research will receive structured training and career development to prepare them for futures in academia or the biotech industry.
The ITI was formed in response to several challenges confronting researchers today. One such challenge is the ongoing “siloization” of scientific research, in which increasingly specialized disciplines and technologies become inaccessible to nonspecialists, limiting their potential impact. Another challenge is that postdoctoral training in general has not kept up with the evolution of career opportunities for science PhDs. The traditional academic postdoc often has little in the way of deliberate training in grantwriting, mentorship, and other skills needed to succeed in more senior scientific positions, and may provide little exposure to the distinct cultures and requirements of industry or other non-academic career tracks. ITI’s postdoctoral program, within the larger context of the research hubs, tackles both of these challenges. The program will both add value to the postdoctoral training period through formal coursework and mentorship, and create a scaffold for close collaborations between colleagues from different disciplines to combine their complementary expertise on high-impact translational projects.
The ITI harnesses the momentum from a number of pre-existing collaborations between investigators in UW’s Immunology department and colleagues in the wider scientific community. Some of these partnerships have existed for years, such as efforts to design and test new vaccine platforms with technology from UW’s Institute for Protein Design. Other collaborative efforts were forged during the COVID-19 pandemic, as researchers across Seattle raced to track new COVID infections and assess the development of anti-COVID immunity. The new institute will formalize many of these existing relationships and provide structured frameworks and funding for continued collaboration. Launching in November 2023, the ITI hopes to assemble its initial cohort of postdoctoral scholars beginning in January 2024.