Serrano Lab | Mentoring & Training Platform

Your Profile & IDP Setup

Individual Development Plan — configure once, update as you grow

Full Name

Training Level

Start Date

Expected End Date

Career Goal Statement

SMART Goals & Milestones

Drag to reorder priorities — for DAC review & F-series applications

DAC & Milestone Schedule

Track committee meetings, qualifying exams, and key program deadlines

Progress Dashboard

Your training at a glance

Overall

Completed

In Progress

Goals

Manuscripts

Certificates

Training Competency Matrix

One section at a time

Show only incomplete

Certificates & Credentials

Upload PDFs, track certifications and courses

Publication & Manuscript Pipeline

Track manuscripts from idea to publication — essential for biosketch and CV

Conference & Presentation Log

Talks, posters, invited seminars — feeds directly into CV and biosketch

Teaching & Outreach

Track mentoring, TA work, and outreach hours for fellowship applications

1:1 Meeting Log

Track mentor meetings with discussion points and rolling action items — uncompleted items carry forward

Networking Tracker

Build and maintain your professional network — track contacts, events, and follow-ups

Contacts

Pending Follow-ups

Events Attended

Export & Share

Download your IDP, training data, CV components, or send to mentor

Import Trainee Data

Drop CSV exports — files accumulate across uploads

Drop trainee CSVs here, or click to select

Lab Training Health

Where does the lab need investment? Not for trainee comparison

—

Lab Average

Trainees

—

Coverage Gaps

Blocked

Filter Level

Filter Area

Training Coverage Matrix

Lab-wide gaps for targeted training — useful for grant plans

Individual Trainee Growth

One trainee's development trajectory

Trainee

Import data and select a trainee.

Mentor-Defined Goals

Set goals for each trainee

Trainee

Area

Goal

Target

Status

Mentoring Reflection & Action

What does your lab need from you?

What resources or training should I prioritize this quarter?

Are there shared barriers (time, access, confidence) among my trainees?

What aspects of lab culture do I want to strengthen?

What am I doing well as a mentor? What can I improve?

Mentor Action Items

Reference Paragraph Builder

Letters, training plans, annual reviews, progress reports

Trainee

Type

Export & Download

Grant Timeline Figure

Build Gantt-style aim/task timelines for F31/F32, R01/R21, and training grants — exports as SVG for grant figures

Project Title

Grant Mechanism

Start Year

Total Years

Aims & Tasks

Milestones & Decision Points

Preview

Career Timeline Builder

Effort allocation table for F-series fellowships, DAC presentations, and training grants

Timeline Title

Year Columns

Research effort Clinical effort Activities / Other Tip: Edit headers, labels, and cells directly

Specific Aims Page Outliner

Structure the most critical page in any NIH grant — with section guidance and word counts

Grant Title

Mechanism

PI / Fellow

Target: ~500 words total (1 page). Current: 0 words

Opening Paragraph 0 words · ~75–100 recommended

Establish the field and its importance. What is the broad problem? Why does it matter?

Knowledge Gap & Critical Need 0 words · ~75–100 recommended

What is not known? What barrier does this create? Why is it a problem right now?

Central Hypothesis & Rationale 0 words · ~50–75 recommended

State your hypothesis clearly. What preliminary data supports it?

Specific Aims 0 words · ~150–200 recommended

List each aim with a brief description of approach and expected outcome. Typically 2–3 aims.

Impact & Innovation 0 words · ~50–75 recommended

How will this work move the field forward? What makes it innovative? What is the expected payoff?

Grant Deadline Tracker

Track NIH standard receipt dates and foundation deadlines — never miss a submission window

NIH Standard Receipt Dates (2026)

Mechanism	Cycle 1	Cycle 2	Cycle 3	Type
R01 (New)	Feb 5	Jun 5	Oct 5	New
R01 (Resubmission)	Mar 5	Jul 5	Nov 5	Resub
R21 (New)	Feb 16	Jun 16	Oct 16	New
R21 (Resubmission)	Mar 16	Jul 16	Nov 16	Resub
F31/F32 (New)	Apr 8	Aug 8	Dec 8	Fellowship
F31/F32 (Resubmission)	May 8	Sep 8	Jan 8	Fellowship
K08/K23/K99	Feb 12	Jun 12	Oct 12	Career Dev

Your Active Deadlines

About This Platform

The Serrano Lab Mentoring & Training Platform supports structured, accountable mentoring in academic research. Mentee and Mentor portals provide complementary tools for IDP tracking, professional development, milestone scheduling, and generating documentation for fellowships, grants, and reviews.

Contributions & Credits

Contributor	Role	Contributions
Dr. Maria A. Serrano	Creator & Content	Conceptual design, training framework (7 domains, 50+ skills), competency taxonomy, mentoring pedagogy, IDP/NIH/DAC alignment, reflection prompts, all domain content, pedagogical direction
Claude (Anthropic)	Development Partner	UI/UX design, front-end code, data architecture, CSV pipeline, radar charts, reference builder, localStorage persistence, networking tracker, publication pipeline, meeting log, milestone scheduler, grant timeline SVG generator, specific aims outliner, deadline tracker, career timeline builder

Version History

v1.0 — Separate Mentee Matrix & PI Dashboard.
v2.0 — Unified platform, IDP builder, SMART goals, reference builder.
v2.1 — Pedagogical redesign, mentoring reflection, radar charts, drag-drop goals, cert uploads.
v2.2–2.3 — Sub-tab navigation, DAC scheduler, publication pipeline, conference log, 1:1 meeting log, networking tracker, teaching hours, career timeline builder, grant timeline figure builder.
v2.4 — Dedicated Grant Tools portal with Gantt-style timeline, career timeline, specific aims page outliner with section guidance and word counts, and NIH deadline tracker with countdown.

If you use or adapt this tool, please cite

This platform is shared under CC BY 4.0. You are free to use and adapt it for your own lab, provided you give appropriate attribution.

Serrano, M.A. & Claude (Anthropic). Serrano Lab Mentoring & Training Platform.
Boston University Center for Regenerative Medicine. 2025–2026.
https://github.com/ma-serr/mentoring-platform