NIH-NSF BBSI: Southern California Bioinformatics Summer Institute

California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc., Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

PROPOSAL NO.: 0234129 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Jamil Momand INSTITUTION NAME: California State LA University Aux Serv TITLE: NIH-NSF BBSI Southern California Bioinformatics Summer Institute ABSTRACT This Summer Institute is composed of a Host Institution and seven Research Mentor Institutions. The Host institution is California State University Los Angeles (Cal State LA). The Research Mentor Institutes are BioDiscovery, Caltech, City of Hope National Medical Center, Protein Pathways, UCLA, University of Southern California, ViaLogy all of which are in the greater Los Angeles area. The major focus of the institute is bioinformatics. The mission of the Southern California-Bioinformatics Summer Institute (SoCal-BSI) is to identify and educate college students for a successful career in bioinformatics. The SoCal-BSI will offer lectures, workshops, research training, and career counseling to selected college students in this fast growing field. Students with a background in molecular life sciences and/or computer sciences and who have completed their second year of college but have not entered their third year of graduate school are welcome to apply. Current professional bioinformaticists generally fall into one of two categories: those that use existing software programs to address molecular life science issues and those that develop new software programs. The SoCal-BSI will train students to be proficient at using existing bioinformatics software programs and at developing bioinformatics programs on their own. Students will be provided with internships to perform bioinformatics research at an academic research institute or at a bioinformatics company in the Southern California area. In this research environment they will apply the knowledge gained from the didactic training portion of the course. Students may apply for a second year at the SoCal-BSI in which they will receive more advanced training in bioinformatics. It is the overall goal of the SoCal-BSI to provide students with the motivation and intellectual tools to pursue a successful career in bioinformatics.