Advanced Multidisciplinary Training Program for Systems Biology

描述（申请人提供）：在生物医学研究领域，信息积累的速度远远超过了经典研究学科的范式和方法的有效利用。很明显，特定学科的专门知识不再能够维持足够的研究进展。新兴的科学家，不管他们接受的培训有多广，也必须接受在研究团队中工作的培训，这样他们才能在整个职业生涯中不断地利用新的方法和概念。提议的系统生物学高级多学科培训计划旨在使主要研究人员能够利用跨学科方法解决人类疾病的复杂机制。交叉学科有两种方法。多学科方法是团队建设：来自不同学科的专家运用他们独特的观点共同解决问题。相比之下，跨学科方法是指一个人运用融合了两个或多个传统学科的知识来解决问题。新的跨学科领域（和研究人员）总是通过密切的多学科合作而创造出来的，我们的项目旨在将这种合作作为研究生培训的基本要素。这种全面的培训需要一个专门适合个体学员需求的项目，这也加速了研究进展。系统生物学高级多学科培训计划的总体目标是通过对博士生的跨学科培训来加速生物医学研究。拟议的培训计划将涉及33名项目教员和被选入14个授予学位的博士学位项目的博士预科学员。从这些博士项目中选出的教师根据他们与该培训计划相关的不同研究背景，以及潜在的或现有的合作研究项目，作为导师参与该培训计划，为学生提供跨学科培训机会。我们的目标是提供跨学科方法的教学培训，从计算学科到生物学学科，并为学生创造一个充满活力的培训环境，使其成为一个由多学科团队和跨学科科学家组成的研究社区，共同努力了解人类疾病的机制。这些目标将通过实施一项包含以下特点的两年培训计划来实现：1)跨学科研究概念和方法的教学和经验培训，2)以学生为中心的灵活课程，通过计算和生物学选修课程量身定制，以满足每个学生的需求，3)一个研究项目，该项目将要求学生在多学科教师共同导师的指导下使用跨学科方法，4)学生们参与一个社区，鼓励学生和导师之间通过研讨会、数据和期刊俱乐部以及年度静修进行互动。学生和课程评估计划旨在密切跟踪学生的进步，并允许培训计划的持续改进。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In biomedical research fields, information now accumulates at a much faster rate than the paradigms and methods of classic research disciplines can effectively utilize. It is clear that discipline-specific expertise can no longer sustain adequate research progress. Emerging scientists, regardless of their breadth of training, must also be trained to work in research teams so that they can continually take advantage of new methods and concepts throughout their career. The proposed Advanced Multidisciplinary Training Program for Systems Biology is designed to prime researchers to tackle complex mechanisms of human disease utilizing cross- disciplinary approaches. There are two ways to cross disciplines. A multidisciplinary approach is team-building: experts from diverse disciplines applying their unique perspectives to address collectively a problem. In contrast, an interdisciplinary approach is when a single person applies knowledge that melds two or more traditional disciplines to solve a problem. New interdisciplinary fields (and investigators) have always been created by close multidisciplinary collaboration, and our program is designed to enforce such collaborations as an essential element of graduate training. Such comprehensive training requires a program specifically suited to the needs of individual trainees that also accelerates research progress. The overall goal of the Advanced Multidisciplinary Training Program for Systems Biology is to accelerate biomedical research through cross- discipline training of pre-doctoral students. The proposed Training Program will involve 33 program faculty members and selected pre-doctoral trainees matriculated into 14 degree-granting Ph.D. programs. Selected faculty members from these Ph.D. programs participate as mentors in this training program based on their diverse research backgrounds of relevance to this training program, and potential or existing collaborative research projects to provide students with interdisciplinary training opportunities. Our objectives are to provide didactic training in interdisciplinary approaches spanning computational to biological disciplines, and create a vibrant training environment for students that is a research community composed of multidisciplinary teams and interdisciplinary scientists working together to understand the mechanisms of human disease. The objectives will be achieved by implementation of a 2-year training plan that incorporates the following features: 1) didactic and experiential training in interdisciplinary research concepts and approaches, 2) a student- centered and flexible curriculum custom tailored to meet the needs of each student via computational and biology elective courses, 3) a research project that will require the student to use interdisciplinary approaches under the mentorship of a multi-disciplinary set of faculty co-mentors, and 4) students engaged in a community that encourages interaction between students and mentors through seminars, data and journal clubs, and an annual retreat. Plans for student and program assessment are designed to tightly track student progress, and allow for continual improvement of the training program.