CSHL Computational Cell Biology Course being held in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York

智力上的优点。 计算细胞生物学的学科旨在开发生命系统的数学模型，例如细胞分裂过程中发生的分子相互作用。这些模型的目标有两个：1）预测细胞动力学系统的结果，从而使科学家能够2）解释细胞过程在疾病中是如何出错的。为了建立成功的模型，数学家和计算机科学家必须与实验细胞生物学家密切合作。在这种合作关系中，实验学家收集有关细胞过程及其随时间变化的定量信息，而数学家则使用这些信息来建立和改进准确反映生物学的计算机模型。 自2008年以来，冷泉港实验室（CSHL）每年夏天都会举办计算细胞生物学短期课程。该课程提供了为期三周的强化实践培训，使参与者能够在细胞过程或系统的建模和模拟中启动自己的研究项目。也许最重要的是，该课程为实验细胞生物学家提供了与数学和计算科学家进行有效合作所需的语言和工具。事实上，该课程的主要受众是实验细胞生物学家，因为课程经过优化，向生物学家介绍数学建模的基本原理，而不是相反。计算细胞生物学课程旨在满足这种特殊的需要，在先进的方法，这是不一般在其他正式的学习环境中提供跨学科的培训。 CSHL计算细胞生物学课程包括几个长期以来使用数学方法研究的主题，如钙信号，细胞周期，分子马达，细胞运动和发育过程中的基因表达。此外，CSHL课程提供了一个知识基础的调查，如细胞内第二信使信号，程序性细胞死亡，有丝分裂染色体运动和合成基因网络的动态发展。该课程有一个良好的记录，汇集了理论家谁开发的数学框架在学科的核心与实验家谁测试模型的相关性在现实世界的例子，这在课堂上创造了一个协同的，跨学科的环境。该课程还具有较高的教师与学员比例，确保与学科专家进行互动的最大机会。 CSHL的工作人员和课程讲师都通过网络尽可能广泛地提供计算细胞生物学的材料，允许将材料广泛传播给未被选中或无法参加课程的感兴趣的科学家。这种传播有多种形式。直接提供给学员的材料与其实验室成员和其他同事共享;例如非正式手册和课程网站，这两种材料每年都更新和制作。一个基于课程材料的单独的在线资源针对计算细胞生物学的教育工作者。此外，一些教科书共同撰写的课程教师和提供给公众包括至少部分相关的材料计算细胞生物学课程。 申请人是由其教师根据几个标准选择的课程。对于来自可能难以学习课程材料的机构的有才华的学生给予特别考虑，特别是如果他们的参与将导致在其本国机构内传播课程中教授的方法。教师努力确保妇女和少数民族科学家的代表性数字被选为他们的课程，美国公民身份或永久居留权是另一个重要的考虑因素。该课程有一个良好的记录，从人口参与传统上代表性不足的数学和计算科学，特别是妇女。特别值得注意的是，2012年的四名课程教员中有两名妇女，她们是各自学科的资深研究人员。

Intellectual merit. The discipline of computational cell biology seeks to develop mathematical models of living systems, such as the molecular interactions that take place during cell division. The goals for such models are twofold: 1) predict outcomes from dynamical systems in the cell, thereby allowing scientists to 2) explain how cellular processes go awry in disease. To build successful models, mathematicians and computer scientists must work closely with experimental cell biologists. In this partnership, experimentalists collect quantitative information about cellular processes and how they change over time, while mathematicians use the information to build and improve upon computer models that accurately reflect the biology. The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) short course on Computational Cell Biology has taken place every summer since 2008. The course provides intensive, hands-on training over a three-week period that prepares participants to initiate their own research projects in the modeling and simulation of cellular processes or systems. Perhaps most importantly, the course provides experimental cell biologists with the language and tools necessary to launch effective collaborations with mathematical and computational scientists. Indeed, the primary audience for the course is experimental cell biologists, as the curriculum is optimized to introduce biologists to fundamental principles of mathematical modeling and not vice versa. The Computational Cell Biology course seeks to meet this special need for interdisciplinary training in advanced methodologies that is not generally available in other formal learning environments. The CSHL Computational Cell Biology course encompasses several topics that have long been studied using mathematical approaches, such as calcium signaling, the cell cycle, molecular motors, cell motility, and gene expression during development. In addition, the CSHL course provides an intellectual base for the development of newer areas of inquiry, such as the dynamics of intracellular second-messenger signaling, programmed cell death, mitotic chromosome movements, and synthetic gene networks. The course has a proven track record of bringing together theoreticians who develop the mathematical framework at the heart of the discipline with experimentalists who test the relevance of the models on real-world examples, and this creates a synergistic, interdisciplinary environment in the classroom. The course also has a high faculty-to-trainee ratio, ensuring maximal opportunity for interactions with experts in the discipline.Broader impacts. Both the staff at CSHL and the course instructors make materials from Computational Cell Biology as widely available as possible via the Web, allowing broad dissemination of the materials to interested scientists who were not selected or were otherwise unable to attend the course. Such dissemination takes a number of forms. Materials given directly to course students are shared with members of their laboratories and other colleagues; examples include the informal manual and the course Web site, both of which are updated and produced annually. A separate online resource based on course material is aimed at educators in computational cell biology. In addition, a number of textbooks co-authored by course instructors and available to the general public include material related at least in part to the Computational Cell Biology curriculum. Applicants are selected for the course by its instructors based on several criteria. Talented students from institutions where it may be difficult to learn the course material are given special consideration, particularly if their participation will lead to dissemination within their home institutions of the methods taught in the course. Instructors strive to ensure that representative numbers of women and minority scientists are selected for their course, and U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is another important consideration. The course has a good track record of involvement from populations traditionally underrepresented in the mathematical and computational sciences, particularly women. Of particular note, the set of four course instructors for 2012 includes two women who are senior, established researchers in their respective disciplines.