IGERT: Integrating Nanotechnology with Cell Biology and Neuroscience

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This IGERT award supports a broadly-based education and training program at the University of New Mexico that will enable students from various disciplines to develop new nanoscale imaging and sensing tools and to apply them in investigations of fundamental problems in cell biology and neuroscience. By infusing training in cell biology and neuroscience with training in the technological basis of chemistry, electrical engineering, and physics, the university will create an exciting learning environment in which to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities presented by the nanotechnology revolution. The program will include internships at national laboratories and industry, travel to national and international meetings, international collaboration combined with internship placements, and a web-based dissemination. The research component of the program will generate improved understanding of important and relatively unexplored biological processes, enabled by creation of new imaging and sensing instruments. To realize this goal, the program will capitalize on the existing strengths to develop new quantum-dot-based technologies coupled with hyperspectral and multiphoton microscopy that carry the potential to revolutionize research on genomic, cellular, and synaptic activities. The educational component of the program will emphasize collaboration across traditional academic disciplines, with co-advisors from cell biology/neuroscience and engineering/science fields, rotations between various laboratories with different research styles, and active interactions among students with different academic backgrounds. New courses developed under this project will lead to a Graduate Certificate Program in Biomedical Science and Engineering with Concentration in Nanotechnology, to be followed by a new PhD program in Systems Biology and Bioengineering. 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.