Quantitative and Computational Biology Graduate Program

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Support is requested for a new multi-disciplinary training program in genomics at Princeton University, aimed at educating genome scientists with the quantitative and computational tools likely to be required for the biology of the future. The genome training program will support students in Princeton's new Graduate Program in Quantitative and computational Biology (QCB), a joint undertaking between the new Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and four Princeton departments (Computer Science, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Biology, and Physics) and administered by the Institute. Genomics trainees will be able to do their thesis research with any of 54 QCB faculty in 10 departments united by common interests in quantitative and computational biology. Five genomics training slots are requested for the first year, 10 for the second, and 15 for each year thereafter, so that a steady-state population of 15 genomics trainees can be supported. In addition to fulfilling the requirements of one of the participating departments, genomics trainees will do research in any of a wide array of functional genomics projects in bacteria, eukaryotic models and mammalian systems; computational projects ranging from basic bio-informatics and molecular evolution to high-throughput data visualization; systems biology projects ranging from microbial metabolism to systems neuroscience; biophysical projects from basic structural biology to the construction of novel proteins and regulatory switches; and theoretical projects ranging from basic dynamical modeling to trying to model signal transduction in epithelia or neurons. Trainees will have an individualized training plan administered by the Executive Committee of the QCB and a Genomics Committee; formal training will include new courses in genomics and genomic analysis, a seminar series, a student-run journal club, and other multi-disciplinary activities centered in the Institute. Trainees will have the opportunity to teach in an innovative new multidisciplinary introductory program for undergraduates at Princeton. Finally, trainees and eligible faculty will participate in a number of activities designed to recruit and teach individuals who are members of under-represented minorities, and to extend the genomics message to high school teachers. [unreadable] [unreadable]