IGERT: Physical & Biomolecular Foundations for Designing Nanoprobes for Biology

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This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training award supports the establishment at Johns Hopkins University of a program to provide the scientific foundations needed to design and create nanoprobes to study the cell and other biological systems. Nanoprobes are solid particles of nanoscopic dimensions with proteins or biomolecules attached to their surfaces. They can be designed to deliver genetic material or other biochemical molecules, and to be responsive to applied fields so researchers can steer them to desired locations within living cells. These tools will advance the scientific understanding of biophysical and biochemical events in cells, with potential to impact biotechnology and therapeutics industries. IGERT students will be trained to understand how particle properties change with particle diameter to create nanoprobes with desired optical, electrical, or magnetic properties. Biological nanoprobes must be compatible with the cell, and should remain as discrete entities rather than aggregating. Therefore, IGERT students will be trained in the science of small materials, colloid and interface science, and in modern laboratory tools to manipulate biomolecules. IGERT students will also be trained in cell signaling, or the science of how subcellular structures communicate, or cells communicate with each other. Thus students drawn from the physical and biological sciences and the engineering disciplines will be trained in fundamental principles and state-of-the-art experimental techniques at the interface of the physical chemical, materials science and biological sciences. They will be prepared to make unique contributions in their fields and will advance the use of nanotechnology in the study of biological systems. This IGERT is committed to outreach, and will work with academic leaders from CCNY, Cal Sate LA, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Center for Educational Outreach at JHU to attract students from underrepresented groups as IGERT doctoral students and as undergraduates to gain research experiences. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.