About the San Diego Program Advancing Research in Kidney-Urology-Hematology (SPARK)

The San Diego Program Advancing Research in Kidney-Urology-Hematology (SPARK) provides trainees and clinical scholars the resources and opportunities to develop into highly successful independent investigators in research areas related to kidney, benign hematology, and benign urology (KUH). This program brings together top researchers from across San Diego to both establish and foster new collaborations within the KUH community and train the next generation of KUH researchers. Our program provides funding to support scholar KUH research in a designated lab and an immersive environment for scholars to gain the necessary expertise in networking, education, and career development, providing the necessary tools for success as independent researchers. Our goal is to both push the frontier of KUH research and establish the next generation of scientists interested in pursuing important questions in this critical area of biomedical science.

The three SPARK partner institutions are: UCSD, San Diego State University, and Scripps Research – all world class institutions that bring unique scientific perspectives and expertise to this training program.

SPARK is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney (NIDDK) Institutional Network Award U2CDK136780. The U2C award component coordinates across institutions and provides administrative and career development support for all SPARK-related activities, while the TL1 component specifically supports trainee research activities.

Training Program

SPARK will support up to 3 pre-doctoral and 3 postdoctoral/clinical scholars each budget year under the TL1 award. Trainees are supported for one-year appointments and are eligible for a second-year appointment contingent on satisfactory progress during the initial appointment. Appointments are supported by the Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award (NRSA), with trainees receiving a monthly stipend, tuition support (for pre-docs), funds to purchase training/research related resources, and funds to cover travel expenses to scientific meetings and conferences. Trainees are also eligible to receive NRSA childcare support provided by a licensed childcare provider. Trainees are required to comply with all NIH policies related to this award and their institutional requirements dictated by their appointment. In addition, trainees are required to pursue research on a full-time basis (at least 40 h/week) at one of the three San Diego participation institutions. Trainees are required to perform research relevant to the mission of the NIDDK Division of Kidney, Urology, and Hematologic Diseases (KUH), as defined on their website.

Trainee research will be pursued in the laboratory of successful KUH researchers distributed across the three participating institutions. In addition to their primary mentor, trainees will have a mentoring team comprised of faculty across institutions and disciplines to provide additional mentorship and career guidance. All trainees are expected to submit a first-author manuscript based on their mentored research and trainees appointed to a second year are expected to submit an individual fellowship grant (e.g., NIH or foundation).

Apart from their research, trainees are required to participate in the professional development and networking activities coordinated by SPARK. Participating in these programs is an important pillar of this award designed to both ‘seed’ cross-institutional collaborations and provide trainees the necessary skills for success as an independent investigator.