Collaborative Research: UBM Group: Synthetic Biology Research for Undergraduates (SyBR-U)

我们这个时代许多最深刻的科学发现都是由研究人员团队在传统科学学科的交叉点上做出的。至关重要的是，未来的科学家要精通多个学科，并能够协同工作。戴维森学院（Davidson College）和密苏里西部州立大学（Missouri Western State University）将通过让学生参与合成生物学这一令人兴奋的新领域，培养他们在数学和生物学领域工作的本科生。合成生物学提供了丰富的跨学科研究问题，国际遗传工程机器（iGEM）竞赛为本科生参与合成生物学研究提供了一个焦点。戴维森大学和密苏里西部大学的学生和教师将合作进行开创性的努力，设计、建模和建造细菌计算机，以解决数学问题，如逆排序（所谓的煎饼问题）、汉密尔顿路径问题和经典的旅行销售人员问题。这些活体计算机将由标准生物部件注册表（Registry of Standard Biological parts）中的现有部件和新部件构建而成。标准生物部件注册表是全球合成生物学社区使用的基于dna的元件的不断增长的集合。合成生物学这一新兴领域将数学与分子生物学结合起来，设计和构建基于dna的设备，并将其应用于能源、医学和技术领域。通过让学生参与原创研究，本科生合成生物学研究（SyBR-U）计划将推进这一重要的新跨学科领域，同时解决培养未来研究科学家在数学和生物学交叉领域协同工作的关键需求。学生将在大一的春季学期被招募，并在大三的秋季学期继续参与该项目。每个参与者都将学习数学和生物学课程，并参加每周的团队会议，两个校区通过视频会议联系在一起。在这种合作研究环境中积累经验后，学生将在iGEM大会上与来自世界各地的本科生研究人员一起展示他们的工作。通过将跨学科培训作为本科教育的基础而不是顶峰，SyBR-U项目创造了一种新的模式，本科教育界可以用它来吸引和培养未来的研究人员，明天科学发现的管家。

Many of the most profound scientific discoveries of our time are made at the intersections of traditional scientific disciplines by teams of researchers. It is critical that scientists of the future be conversant in multiple disciplines and capable of working collaboratively. Davidson College and Missouri Western State University will train undergraduate students to work at the interface of mathematics and biology by engaging them in the exciting new field of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology offers a rich supply of inherently interdisciplinary research problems, and the international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition provides a focal point for undergraduate participation in synthetic biology research. Students and faculty at Davidson and Missouri Western will collaborate on groundbreaking efforts to design, model, and build bacterial computers to solve mathematical problems such as sorting by reversals (the so-called Pancake Problem), the Hamiltonian Path Problem, and the classic Traveling Salesperson Problem. These living computers will be constructed from existing and novel parts in the Registry of Standard Biological Parts, a growing collection of DNA-based elements used by the global synthetic biology community. The emerging field of synthetic biology combines mathematics with molecular biology to design and construct DNA-based devices with applications in energy, medicine, and technology. By engaging students in original research, the Synthetic Biology Research for Undergraduates (SyBR-U) program will advance this important new interdisciplinary field while addressing the critical need to train future research scientists to work collaboratively at the intersection of mathematics and biology. Students will be recruited in the spring semester of their freshman year, and remain involved with the program through the fall semester of their junior year. Each participant will take courses in both mathematics and biology and attend weekly team meetings in which the two campuses are linked by videoconference. After gaining experience in this collaborative research environment, students will present their work alongside undergraduate researchers from around the world at the iGEM Jamboree. By treating interdisciplinary training as the foundation rather than the pinnacle of undergraduate education, the SyBR-U program creates a new model that the undergraduate educational community can use to attract and train future researchers, the stewards of tomorrow's scientific discoveries.