Graduate Training Program in Bioinformatics

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Graduate Training Program in Bioinformatics Program Abstract Biology is increasingly becoming an information-driven science. To harness the opportunities of the post- genomic era in furthering health sciences research and improving health care, there is an enormous demand for biologists who are trained in mathematics and computer science and can think quantitatively. However, current disciplinary graduate training programs are not designed to accommodate these rapid changes in the biological research perspective. This need serves as the motivation for the development of specialized graduate training programs that will train students at the interface between biology, engineering and computer science. To address this need, UCSD established an interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Bioinformatics in 2001 under the directorship of Dr. Shankar Subramaniam. In 2008, it was renamed Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology and reorganized. The current program directors Drs. Trey Ideker, Euegene Yeo, and Theresa Gaasterland work closely with the Training Grant co-PIs Dr. Subramaniam, Vineet Bafna, and Theresa Gaasterland, and with an active steering committee containing representative faculty from all five participating UCSD schools and academic divisions. The primary objectives of this (renewal) application of the Training Grant by the three co-PIs are to continue and expand this premier Graduate Program, and support the highest quality students in their truly interdisciplinary training which blends biomedicine, computer science and engineering. The Program will continue to evolve the curriculum (including online offerings) and develop and offer electives that will prepare students for the challenges of big data and computational biomedical research. The program will continue its mode of training that begins with a set of research rotations in laboratories of faculty members, and continues through doctoral research work under the supervision of a PhD advisor and co-advisor who provide complementary interdisciplinary expertise. The Program will also continue a recently established weekly Colloquium, the student Journal Club, and annual retreat. In the course of their training, program students have contributed important discoveries and impactful advances in health sciences research. Alumni of the program are placed in leading positions in Academia and industry. Given the extraordinary number and quality of applicants, the capacity and eagerness of the Program faculty to train the Program’s students, and the institutional support for the Program, this application seeks to increase the number of trainee slots to 12. Following Training Grant support of Graduate students during their course work education and initial research training, all graduate students will be supported by their thesis advisors for the duration of their PhD studies. The Proposal outlines our past success in training students and discusses significant novel strategies for enhancing the training program. The new inception of the UCSD Halicioglu Data Sciences Institute provides great synergy for our Graduate Program and offers the trainees an opportunity to become leaders in the emerging areas of biomedicine that are heavily becoming data science disciplines.