TRAINING GRANT IN MOLECULAR BIOPHYSICS

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Funding is requested for continued support of an interdisciplinary training program in molecular biophysics at Rutgers University. The program offers broad exposure to the experimental and theoretical techniques needed to solve problems in molecular biophysics together with in-depth training with a specific research problem. The graduate faculty of Rutgers University includes one of the largest and most active groups of molecular biophysicists in the country with interests ranging from molecular and submolecular problems to aspects of cellular organization and intact organisms. The training faculty are spread over four graduate programs at Rutgers and seven departments at Rutgers and the adjacent Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (formerly Rutgers Medical School) of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. There are significant research programs in X-ray crystallography and diffraction (Edward Arnold, Helen M. Berman, Barbara M. Brodsky, Millie M. Georgiadis, Ann Stock), nuclear magnetic resonance (Jean S. Baum, Gaetano T. Montelione), theoretical methods (Karsten Krogh- Jesperson, Ronald M. Levy, Gerald S. Manning, Wilma K. Olson), artificial intelligence (Casimir A. Kulikowski, Martin Farach), continuum mechanics (Bernard D. Coleman), biothermodynamics and spectroscopy (Kenneth J. Breslauer, Jeehiun K. Lee. Richard Ludescher, Tariq M. Rana, T.J. Thomas), electron microscopy (Donald A. Winkelmann), and biochemical synthesis and design (Stephen Anderson, Richard H. Ebright, Marc R. Gartenberg, Sarah E. Hitchcock-Dregregori, Masayori Inouye, Stephen S. Isied, Roger A. Jones, John W. Taylor). The faculty are a closely knit group with common interests in macromolecular structure, function, and interactions and with a history of fruitful interactions. Prospective trainees enter with undergraduate degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics and physics. The program entails formal graduate courses, laboratory rotations, seminars, and dissertation research. Research groups are well equipped and well supported from extramural sources. The senior faculty have extensive experience in training students and the junior faculty are among the most promising young scientists in the nation. The intellectual climate is excellent and conducive to nurturing future research opportunities. Rutgers University and the University of Medicine of Dentistry have outstanding computational, imaging, NMR, and X-ray facilities available for training in molecular biophysics. The universities, together with the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, also jointly sponsor the New Jersey Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine which has a strong research focus in molecular biophysics. The training program not only helps to meet national needs for personnel trained to apply the tools and concepts of the physical sciences to the solution of significant biological problems but also helps to enhance the academic environment within Rutgers University. The requested funds help to attract a pool of outstanding predoctoral students, to unify existing graduate offerings, and to offer an independent graduate curriculum in molecular biophysics.