UBM-Group: An Integrative Analysis of Human Cancer: Exploiting the Synergy of Mathematical and Molecular Biological Approaches in Studying a Complex Problem

该项目开发了一种跨学科培训模式，利用课堂教学的有效性和研究经验的力量。该项目包括一门生物学课程，癌症生物学，以及一门数学课程，生物科学中的数学技术，其中学生将在大三的春季学期共同注册。教师将协调课程，使他们准备学生为期一年的研究经验。该研究项目将使用一个共同的模型系统，一个人类白血病细胞系，可以“胁迫”在培养中表现出正常的细胞特性。学生将与教师导师团队合作，开发研究项目，探索将细胞从癌症状态转换为正常状态的分子事件，使用需要整合生物和数学技术的现代方法。该项目汇集了在分子生物学和数学，可以协同应用于一个重要而复杂的问题，癌症生物学的研究培训教师。科学中许多重要的未解之谜很可能在世纪通过跨学科思想者的共同努力得到解决，本项目将在本科阶段培养这种跨学科思想。从18-30本科生将获得深入的跨学科培训和合作研究经验，通过这个为期3年的计划。

This project develops a model of interdisciplinary training that takes advantage of the effectiveness of classroom instruction and the power of research experience. The project includes the linkage of a course in Biology, The Biology of Cancer, and a course in Mathematics, Mathematical Techniques in the Biological Sciences, in which cohorts of students will co-enroll in the spring semester of their junior year. Faculty will coordinate the courses so that they prepare the students for a year-long research experience. The research projects will use a common model system, a human leukemia cell line that can be "coerced" to exhibit normal cell properties in culture. Students will work in teams with the faculty mentor team to develop research projects that explore the molecular events that convert cells from the cancer state to the normal state, using modern methods that require integration of biological and mathematical techniques. The project brings together faculty with training in molecular biology and mathematics that can be synergistically applied to the study of an important and complex problem, the biology of cancer. Many of the important unanswered questions in science are likely to be solved in the 21st century through collaborative efforts involving individuals trained as interdisciplinary thinkers, and this project will nurture such interdisciplinary thinking at the undergraduate level. From 18-30 undergraduate students will gain in-depth interdisciplinary training and collaborative research experience through this 3-year program.