Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2002

Hall Anne E, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY2002. The fellowship supports research and training at the postdoctoral level at the intersection of biology and the informational, computational, mathematical, and statistical sciences. The goal of the fellowship is to provide training to a young scientist in preparation for a career in biological informatics in which research and education will be integrated. There is an increasing need for training in biological informatics at all occupational levels, and it is expected that Fellows trained through these fellowships will play important roles in training the future workforce. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Multi-species sequence comparison and compositional analysis of plant centromeres." This research seeks is to understand the composition, organization and evolution of centromeres--regions that mediate chromosome partitioning. Centromere sequences from relatives of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana are being compared to assess sequence conservation and determine the types and abundance of sequence classes. This will distinguish rapidly evolving sequences from those exhibiting significant conservation.