NANOBIOLOGY INSTITUTIONAL TRAINING GRANT

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The Nanobiology Training Program (NBTP) proposed builds on a strong history of multi-institutional, multidisciplinary training efforts in the Keck Center of the Gulf Coast Consortia. Bringing together four institutions ? Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, University of Houston, and University of Texas-Houston ?the NBTP will build on the extensive expertise in areas from which the discipline of nanobiology will emerge. As nanobiology applications are explored, concurrent development of tools, concepts, and people will be required. A novel approach to curricula will be essential to bring together the elements of expertise that will be required for the practitioner in this nascent area. We will engage advanced pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees in a capstone course to design curricula that meet the needs of students in this area. Trainees will be required to have mentors in two different parent disciplines, and a mini-sabbatical period in the co-mentor's laboratory will be an essential part of the training experience. Trainees will work on important problems of nanobiology in three different areas ? imaging, modeling, and materials. Each of these areas is crucial to the development of this area, and strong expertise in the training faculty is found hi each of the areas. The faculty is drawn from all four participating institutions, and criteria for engagement are strong interest in emerging nanobiology problems and commitment to this training program. Core support provided for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees in this program is highly leveraged by the effective infrastructure of the Keck Center, the track record of non-overlapping training programs, and a stimulating and robust intellectual environment for pre- and post-doctoral training embedded in an exciting and challenging research context.