Training in Molecular Biophysics

University Of Virginia, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Biophysicists, scientists at the cross-roads of biology, chemistry, physics and math, build the tools needed to understand the molecular basis of biology and disease. They strive to solve the structures of biomolecules of ever higher complexity, synthesize the chemicals that modulate biological reactions, build the instruments and create methods to monitor the effects, and write the code to simulate increasingly complex systems. In the Molecular Biophysics Program at the University of Virginia, exceptional pre-doctoral students will be trained to achieve these tasks with a high-quality interdisciplinary graduate education in modern molecular biophysics and structural biology based on the expertise of a diverse, but interactive group of faculty. This will be accomplished through appropriate coursework, exposure to high quality science through an active journal club, seminar series and retreat, effective mentoring, and, most importantly, high quality research in the labs of training grant mentors. In addition, career development activities will be provided in cooperation with the University of Virginia Office of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. While we expect that a number of students supported on the training grant will be Ph.D. students in the Biophysics degree Program, the training grant mentors and selection structure have been setup to provide training support for any top student working in the area of molecular biophysics, regardless of Ph.D. granting program. We intend that our students will go into many different fields and types of positions throughout the world to continue building the tools to explore biology and disease. Relevance Scientists with advanced training in Biophysics are needed for laboratories carrying out studies in structural biology, molecular mechanisms, single molecule assays, drug delivery, computational simulations, nanotechnology, biofuels, and so on. The Molecular Biophysics Program at the University of Virginia provides broad interdisciplinary training with emphases on the principles of physics, chemistry and mathematics. These are the scientists who will develop the tools needed to understand the molecular basis of biology and disease.