NSERC CREATE in Biological information processing: From genome to systems level

我们项目的核心是培养研究生成为富有成效的团队成员，而不仅仅是研究下属。目前，L大学和艾伯塔省的研究生培训课程总体上以非常高的科学标准为特点，但它们侧重于有限的研究方法。拟议方案将使学生和博士后受训人员能够在生物系统信息处理、细胞生物学、动态成像和神经计算领域建立世界级的培训环境。我们的建议是基于这样一个想法，即生命科学的下一代创新者必须拥有一个工具包，其中包含观察细胞内分子过程的方法，用于测量大型分布式细胞网络的活动的方法，以及用于信号处理和细胞系统理论建模的计算方法。我们的项目目前在高级行为/认知神经科学研究、神经解剖学、成人神经发生学、分子生物学、磁共振成像、表观遗传学和高密度人类脑电方面拥有公认的世界级专业知识和基础设施。在我们最近的北极星奖中，有一个由5名新教师组成的整合小组，他们在神经计算、对大量单个神经元的整体神经生理记录以及即时早期基因激活的全脑成像方面拥有独特的专业知识。我们的共同申请者通过合作增加了表观遗传编程、转基因模型和干细胞调控方面的优势。当完全建立后，我们预计将在任何给定的时间进行培训：10-12个PDF；22-24个研究生和8个本科生。几乎所有的资金都将用于研究生教育。其他资金将来自艾伯塔省创新公司、现有的赠款来源和北极星计划。这种培训将对新一代加拿大神经/生命科学家做出重大贡献，他们同样熟悉显微镜或微电极，就像使用超级计算机一样。这种结合对于生命科学这一部分的创新和未来的应用是必不可少的。

The core of our program is the training of graduate students to be productive team members, not just research subordinates. Current postgraduate training programs at U of L and in Alberta generally are characterized by a very high standard of science but they have been focused on a limited range of research approaches. The proposed programme will enable the establishment of a world-class training environment for students and post-doctoral trainees in the field of information processing in biological systems, integrating cell biology, dynamic imaging, and neurocomputation. Our proposal is based upon the idea that the next generation of innovators in life science must have a tool kit that contains methods for seeing intracellular molecular processes, for measuring activity of large distributed networks of cells, and for computation as it applies to both signal processing and cellular systems theoretical modeling. Our program now has acknowledged world-class expertise and infrastructure for advanced behavioural/cognitive neuroscience study, neuroanatomy, adult neurogenesis, molecular biology, magnetic resonance imaging, epigenetics, and high-density human EEG. With our recent Polaris Award, there is an integrated group of 5 new faculty who have particular expertise in neurocomputation, ensemble neurophysiological recording of large populations of individual neurons, and whole brain imaging of immediate early gene activation. Our co-applicants through collaborations add strengths in epigenetic programming, transgenic models, and stem cell regulation. When fully established, we expect to be training at any given time: 10-12 PDFs; 22-24 graduate students and 8 undergraduate trainees. Nearly all of the funding will be targeted at graduate education. Other funding will come through Alberta Innovates, existing grant sources and the Polaris program. This training will contribute significantly to a new generation of Canadian neuro/life scientists who are equally at home with a microscope or microelectrode, as with a supercomputer. This combination is essential for innovation in this part of life science and in its application in the future.