Computational and Structural Biology in Biodefense

描述(申请人提供)：我们将建立生物防务计算和结构生物学的多学科博士后和博士后培训计划，涵盖生物化学、生物物理学、分子生物学、结构生物学、生物信息学、基因组学、蛋白质组学、数据库管理、化学生物学、细胞生物学、免疫学、病毒学和病理学等领域。在过去的20年里，传染病显著死灰复燃，出现了新的传染病，如艾滋病和SARS，以及来自生物恐怖主义的新威胁。因此，迫切需要在这个多学科领域培养一流的、富有想象力和创造力的科学家。将高度重视这些领域的交叉培训。为生物治疗剂和新出现或再次出现的传染病开发新的疫苗、疗法和诊断方法的机会从未像现在这样大，发展跨学科培训的必要性从未像今天这样重要。这项培训补助金申请要求为6名博士后和4名博士后学员提供支持；每名学员将获得为期两年的支持。加上墨西哥湾沿岸财团的W·M·凯克计算生物学中心以及西部地区生物防御和新发传染病卓越中心以及加尔维斯顿国家实验室提供的研究、基础设施和培训支持，这一数字将为该计划的32名导师提供足够多的受训人员，因为每个受训人员都将被要求参与跨学科研究，其中一名是结构、计算或化学生物学，另一名是与生物防御和传染病相关的生物医学领域。该项目成功的一部分是基于团队的、多学科、多机构的科学家团队，他们已经合作了14年，包括贝勒医学院、莱斯大学、休斯顿大学、德克萨斯大学HSC、休斯顿医学博士安德森癌症公司和UTMB加尔维斯顿大学的研究人员。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We will establish a multidisciplinary predoctoral and postdoctoral Training Program in Computational and Structural Biology in Biodefense, spanning the fields of biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, structural biology, bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, database management, chemical biology, cell biology, immunology, virology, and pathology. The last 20 years have seen a remarkable resurgence of infectious diseases and the emergence of new ones such as AIDS and SARS, as well as the new threat from bioterrorism. Consequently, there is a critical need to train first-rate, imaginative, and creative scientists in this multidisciplinary field. Strong emphasis will be placed on cross-training in these fields. The opportunities to develop new vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for biothreat agents and emerging or reemerging infectious diseases have never been greater, and the need to develop interdisciplinary training never more important than today. This training grant application requests support for six predoctoral and four postdoctoral trainees; each trainee will be supported for a period of two years. Together with the research and infrastructure and training support provided by the W. M. Keck Center for Computational Biology of the Gulf Coast Consortia as well as the Western Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Galveston National Laboratory, this number will provide an adequate critical mass of trainees for the base of 32 mentors in the program, as each trainee will be required to participate in interdisciplinary research, with a primary mentor and a secondary co-mentor, one in structural, computational or chemical biology and the other in a biomedical field related to biodefense and infectious diseases. Part of the success of this program is the team-based, multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional groups of scientists that have worked together now for over 14 years, consisting of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Rice U., U. of Houston, U. of Texas HSC, Houston M. D. Anderson Cancer Ctr., and UTMB Galveston.