Congratulations to Drs. Ivana Parker, assistant professor, and Ana Maria Porras, assistant professor, for being accepted to the 2022 Careers through Mentoring in Omics and Data for Early-stage Investigators (Career MODE) Program.

The development of omics technologies and the most advanced data sciences has transformed every biomedical field and provides a limitless potential to understand biological processes and develop new treatments for human diseases.

During her time in the program, Porras will be developing research ideas to implement -omics and data science approaches to identify mechanisms that regulate human-microbe interactions at the tissue level. Parker will be learning omics and data science techniques to inform her research, which aims to determine novel population-specific HIV prevention strategies. 

Designing, executing, and analyzing data generated by these technologies requires significant expertise, notably missing in junior investigators. The Career MODE program: Careers through Mentoring and training in Omics and Data for Early-stage investigators was designed to train a new generation of diverse biomedical investigators and provide them with skills, knowledge, mentoring, professional skills, and networking to foster their pathways to independence using omics and data sciences.