UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN COMPLEX BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

描述(摘自申请)：一个暑期研究体验项目是 面向物理和计算科学专业的本科生 或工程学，将它们引入复杂生物系统的研究。 学生将被招募到美国国立卫生研究院资助的十个实验室工作 作为跨学科研究生项目成员的调查人员 《复杂生物系统的结构和功能分析》。这 该计划旨在培养学生在生物之间的接口工作 以及物理和计算科学，并涉及来自 计算生物学中心和细胞生物学与 神经科学、化学与生物化学、计算机科学、电学 工程学、数学、微生物学和兽医分子生物学。这 该项目最近被授予一名五年制NSF跨学科毕业生 教育和研究培训(IGERT)研究生培训补助金。这个 这里提出的本科生研究计划旨在整合 与研究生培训计划一起。本科生将有研究生 该项目的导师，除了他们的教职员工导师。他们还将 参加通过以下途径组织和资助的暑期研讨会和讲习班 NSF-IGERT计划，在那里他们将接触到杰出的科学家 来自全国各地，他们站在应用计算和 解决生物学问题的系统方法。此外，还将有每周一次的 研讨会和演讲，在那里本科生将与 密歇根州立大学致力于培训学生的具有凝聚力的调查小组 利用先进的实验和计算技术来理解 复杂的生物系统。所说的系统，我们指的是相互作用的组 生物成分，如酶、底物和调节剂 生化途径，第二信使信号的大分子组装 遗传网络或神经细胞中的系统、基因产物和控制元件 在感官网络中。根据需要，对这些人的教育和培训 科学家必须是多学科的，并将涉及计算方法 和生物信息学。这为本科生提供了一个绝佳的机会 具有物理、数学、计算机科学或工程学背景 将他们的定量和分析技能应用于激动人心的新问题 生物学或医学兴趣，并培养追求的兴趣 跨学科研究生培养。

DESCRIPTION (taken from application): A summer research experience program is proposed for undergraduates majoring in the physical and computational sciences or engineering, to introduce them to the study of complex biological systems. Students will be recruited to work in the laboratories of ten NIH-funded investigators that are members of an interdisciplinary graduate program in "Structural and Functional Analysis of Complex Biological Systems". This program is designed to train students to work at the interface between biology and the physical and computational sciences, and involves faculty from the Center for Computational Biology and the Departments of Cell Biology & Neuroscience, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Microbiology, and Veterinary Molecular Biology. This program was recently awarded a five-year NSF Interdisciplinary Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) graduate training grant. The undergraduate research program proposed here has been designed to integrate with the graduate-training program. Undergraduates will have graduate student mentors from the program, in addition to their faculty mentors. They will also participate in the summer symposia and workshops organized and funded through the NSF-IGERT program, where they will be exposed to distinguished scientists from around the country who are at the forefront of applying computational and systems approaches to biological problems. In addition, there will be weekly seminars and presentations, where the undergraduates will interact with a cohesive group of investigators at MSU that are committed to training students to exploit advanced experimental and computational techniques to understand complex biological systems. By systems, we mean groups of interacting biological components, such as enzymes, substrates, and regulatory agents in a biochemical pathway, macromolecular assemblies of a second-messenger signaling system, gene products and control elements in a genetic network, or nerve cells in a sensory network. By necessity, the education and training of such scientists must be multidisciplinary and will involve computational approaches and bioinformatics. This presents an excellent opportunity for undergraduates with a background in physics, mathematics, computer science, or engineering to apply their quantitative and analytical skills to exciting new problems of biological or medical interest, and develop an interest in pursuing interdisciplinary graduate training.