Interdisciplinary Training in Systems & Biomolecular Data Science

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Contemporary basic research uses data-intensive approaches to address fundamental questions about biological phenomena that emerge at the systems level. This application will establish the Systems & Biomolecular Data Science (SBDS) training program as a hub for cultivating quantitative, computational, and analytic predoctoral students at the University of Virginia (UVA). The SBDS training program brings together 12 degree-granting programs and 34 faculty mentors across the UVA Schools of Medicine, Engineering, Data Science, and Arts & Sciences. UVA has a rich history in SBDS, which spans decades of systems physiology in different cell types and organs, thus ensuring a competitive pool of predoctoral applicants each year. The co-PIs have complementary expertise in the SBDS field and track records in mentorship and education, career development of predoctoral students, scientific rigor and transparency, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The overarching goal of the SBDS training program is to prepare the next generation of transdisciplinary biomedical scientists at the interface of quantitative biology, systems biology, machine learning, and informatics. The one-year SBDS curriculum will guide 10 second-year Ph.D. students plus one cost-shared student through coursework, a discussion series on collaborative foundations, a journal club, a hackathon, and an 80-hour research immersion in the laboratory of an approved co-mentor who is complementary to the primary mentor. SBDS alumni remain connected to the training program through a sustained relationship with their co-mentor and journal-club flexibility for discussions of research in progress and follow-on fellowship applications. The training program builds upon the strengths of a one-time Big Data to Knowledge training grant at UVA, which was sponsored by the Office of the Director and coordinated by the National Library of Medicine. SBDS has robust plans for assessment and dissemination to ensure that the program emulates the agility and versatility that will characterize its trainees.