An Institutional NRSA in Molecular Biophysics

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the Molecular Biophysics (MB) Training Program is to prepare highly qualified students for research careers in molecular biophysics and computational biology, areas that will serve the explosive growth of technology and computation/bioinformatics in biological and medical research. Trainees can choose from a substantial and highly diverse group of faculty research mentors (30) with projects in many areas of high national priority. The training program attracts a highly qualified and geographically diverse group of students. We are striving to improve the representation of minority students through a number of efforts. In addition to direct faculty involvement in recruiting trips to minority institutions and conferences, minority trainees have recently founded the Organization for Under-Represented Scientists (OURS) to enhance their own role. Following the reorganization of the life sciences, resources were made available to build in several areas of particular relevance to the MB training program, including structural biology and bioinformatics. The University has also built at the interface of biology, chemistry and physics through new hires in Chemistry and Physics. These efforts have added several outstanding new faculty to the program. The program gives students full access to all participating faculty and facilities of the institution while providing them with the supportive atmosphere of relatively small departments. New developments in the program include standardized rotations through research labs when the trainees first enter the program, a course in scientific ethics and monthly trainee presentations. The trainee-organized annual symposium continues to be a high point of each year. The new Chemical and Life Sciences Laboratory was occupied in 1998, and an $80 million Post-genomics Institute has been approved by the State legislature. World class research support facilities are available in the Biotechnology Center (nucleotide and protein sequencing, amino acid analysis, oligonucleotide and peptide synthesis, DNA array technology, production of hybridomas, polyclonal antibodies and transgenic animals, flow cytometry, fermentation), Chemical Sciences Service Facilities (NMR, ESR, mass spectrometry), Beckman Institute (imaging and electron microscopy), and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. The University of Illinois Libarary is the 3rd largest academic library in the nation, with sub-libraries in biology, chemistry, and medicine in very close proximity.