Institutional Training Grant in the Genomic Sciences

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Genomic Sciences Training Program (GSTP) is training the new generation of genomic scientists with strengths spanning across multiple disciplines. The training opportunities and environment we propose will enable our trainees to develop and apply new tools, derived from technological advances that are informed by cutting-edge statistical and computational approaches that functionalize diverse and large datasets. The new genomic approaches to biological and medical investigation demand scientists who are knowledgeable and skilled across several fields in effective ways that potentate new insights or inventions. Accordingly, the emergence of new tools allowing for the creation and interpretation of large-scale experimental efforts is what GSTP has focused on by the didactical interweaving of investigative approaches drawn from multiple fields (biology, genetics, physical sciences, engineering, computer science, and statistics) that were individually contoured for complementing a trainee's core disciplinary focus, yet built upon achievement and knowledge within the genomic sciences. Given the incredibly rich scientific and engineering breadth of the University of Wisconsin, GSTP was able to recruit outstanding trainees who greatly advanced mass spectroscopy, microarray technologies, computation, and bio-devices, while exploring new applications leveraging these advantages for cutting-edge investigation into proteomics, transcription, metabolomics, and genome biology. Such achievement has spawned the establishment of a significant genomics community on our campus through networking of trainees and trainers to become central hubs for groundbreaking collaborations reaching across departments, centers, and other training programs. We propose for the renewal of this program that we continue this focus with added emphasis on programmatic evaluation of GSTP, increased training in developing methods for analyzing and interpreting large datasets, and fostering of clinical applications. We request funding for training on a yearly basis: 10 predoctoral (1-3 yrs), 4 postdoctoral (1-3 yrs), and 2 short-term (0.25 yr) trainees; we will seek trainees with recent undergraduate and graduate degrees.