Molecular Biophysics Training Grant at Vanderbilt

在生物学和医学研究中应用定量方法被认为是必不可少的。 生物医学研究未来发展的进展。分子生物物理学培训计划 范德比尔特大学的(MBTP)专门通过培训学生在以下方面工作来满足这一需求 生物学和医学中的定量分子方法和关键问题。因此，MBTP提供了一个 为具有生物科学背景的学员奠定更深的物理科学基础，以及 比平时更全面地接触生物科学和医学，比有体能的学生 理科或工科背景。尽管该项目的培训人员来自九个不同的 它植根于已建立的共同研究和培训活动网络。在附加内容中 对于26名培训人员和58名学员来说，培训环境得到了极大的丰富 约40名科学工作人员和博士后研究员参加。超越个人设计的课程 每个学员，MBTP每月举行两次正式的研究研讨会，涉及整个 分子生物物理界。研究范围从小分子药物的设计到 多蛋白质细胞器的结构分析及从膜蛋白的表征到 跟随着生物分子进出细胞的运动。研究项目涉及范围广泛的 物理、化学和计算方法，包括X射线结晶学、核磁共振、EPR和 荧光光谱、质谱学、低温电子显微镜、细胞成像和 分子/细胞模拟，通常涉及多种方法。学员通常在晚些时候加入MBTP 他们在选择毕业论文实验室后的第一年研究生培训，然后得到两年的支持。 助学金包括额外的专业教学培训和论文撰写所需的时间 研究。然而，所有受训人员(以及他们的导师)在整个MBTP计划活动中保持活跃 他们研究生培训的持续时间。 相关性(请参阅说明)： 分子生物物理学的最终目标是获得形状、表面的定量描述 赋予细胞生命的数千个分子之间相互作用的特征和网络。是这样的 知识提供了对正常生理和导致疾病的故障的直接理解， 反过来，可以用来开发专门针对缺陷分子的药物疗法。

The application of quantitative approaches to study biology and medicine is identified as an essential progression in future developments of biomedical research. The Molecular Biophysics Training Program (MBTP) at Vanderbilt specifically addresses this need by training students to work at the interface between quantitative molecular approaches and key problems in biology and medicine. Thus, the MBTP provides a deeper grounding in the physical sciences for trainees who have a biological sciences background, and a more thorough exposure to the biological sciences and medicine than is usual for students with a physical sciences or engineering background. Though the program draws its training faculty from nine different departments, it is rooted in an established network of common research and training activities. In additional to the 26 Training Faculty and 58 students, the training environment is greatly enriched by the active participation of ~40 scientific staff and postdoctoral fellows. Beyond a personally designed curriculum for each trainee, the MBTP holds two formal research seminar meetings each month involving the entire molecular biophysics community. The scope of research ranges from the design of small molecule drugs to the structural analysis of multi-protein cellular machinery and from characterization of membrane proteins to following the movement of biomolecules into and out of cells. Research projects involve a broad spectrum of physical, chemical, and computational approaches, including X-ray crystallography, NMR, EPR and fluorescence spectroscopies, mass spectrometry, cryo-electron microscopy, cell imaging and molecular/cellular simulations, often involving multiple approaches. Trainees typically join the MBTP late in their first year of graduate training after choosing a thesis laboratory, and are then supported for two years. Grant support covers the time needed for additional specialized didactic training and the initiation of thesis research. However, all trainees (and their preceptors) remain active in MBTP program activities throughout the duration of their graduate training. RELEVANCE (See instructions): The ultimate goal of Molecular Biophysics is to obtain a quantitative description of the shapes, surface features and network of interactions between the many thousands of molecules that bring a cell to life. Such knowledge provides a direct understanding of normal physiology and the malfunctions that lead to disease, and in turn can be used to develop drug therapies targeted specifically for the defective molecules.