Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Informatics for FY 2003

Petersen, Rebecca P, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Interdisciplinary Informatics are sponsored jointly by the Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Biological Sciences (BIO) to encourage research and training that cross the traditional disciplinary boundaries between them. These fellowships provide opportunities for interdisciplinary research and educational activities in biology and informatics to a wide range of recent doctoral recipients (biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and others) who seek to conduct research on biological questions using informatics tools and methods. It is expected that the Fellows trained through these fellowships will play an important role in training the future workforce. Postdoctoral training in informatics will permit junior scientists trained in biology, mathematical, chemical, and physical sciences to play key roles in developing new quantitative tools and methods that will advance informatics in biology and other fields. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Bioinformatic analysis of gene sequences encoding variation in gene expression in natural populations." This research investigates how variation in gene expression among populations is related to variation in their gene sequences. Sequences of the regulatory regions of genes are being determined and compared to published data on gene expression in two natural populations of the fruit fly, Drosophila. Informatics tools are being used to compare the identified sequences. Whether these differences are sufficient to account for differences in gene expression is being tested experimentally.