IGERT: Integrating Nanotechnology with Cell Biology and Neuroscience

这项IGERT奖支持新墨西哥大学的一个基础广泛的教育和培训项目，使来自不同学科的学生能够开发新的纳米级成像和传感工具，并将其应用于细胞生物学和神经科学的基本问题的研究。通过将细胞生物学和神经科学的培训与化学、电子工程和物理的技术基础培训相结合，该大学将创造一个令人兴奋的学习环境，使学生为纳米技术革命带来的挑战和机遇做好准备。该计划将包括在国家实验室和行业实习，参加国内和国际会议，国际合作与实习安排，以及网络传播。该项目的研究部分将通过创建新的成像和传感仪器，提高对重要的和相对未开发的生物过程的理解。为了实现这一目标，该项目将利用现有的优势，开发新的基于量子点的技术，结合高光谱和多光子显微镜，这些技术有可能彻底改变基因组、细胞和突触活动的研究。该项目的教育部分将强调传统学科之间的合作，与来自细胞生物学/神经科学和工程/科学领域的联合顾问，不同研究风格的不同实验室之间的轮换，以及不同学术背景的学生之间的积极互动。在该项目下开发的新课程将导致生物医学科学与工程的研究生证书课程，重点是纳米技术，然后是系统生物学和生物工程的新博士课程。IGERT是一项nsf范围内的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战，他们具有跨学科背景，所选学科的深厚知识，以及未来职业需求所需的技术，专业和个人技能。该计划旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训模式，在一个超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，促进研究生教育的文化变革。

This IGERT award supports a broadly-based education and training program at the University of New Mexico that will enable students from various disciplines to develop new nanoscale imaging and sensing tools and to apply them in investigations of fundamental problems in cell biology and neuroscience. By infusing training in cell biology and neuroscience with training in the technological basis of chemistry, electrical engineering, and physics, the university will create an exciting learning environment in which to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities presented by the nanotechnology revolution. The program will include internships at national laboratories and industry, travel to national and international meetings, international collaboration combined with internship placements, and a web-based dissemination. The research component of the program will generate improved understanding of important and relatively unexplored biological processes, enabled by creation of new imaging and sensing instruments. To realize this goal, the program will capitalize on the existing strengths to develop new quantum-dot-based technologies coupled with hyperspectral and multiphoton microscopy that carry the potential to revolutionize research on genomic, cellular, and synaptic activities. The educational component of the program will emphasize collaboration across traditional academic disciplines, with co-advisors from cell biology/neuroscience and engineering/science fields, rotations between various laboratories with different research styles, and active interactions among students with different academic backgrounds. New courses developed under this project will lead to a Graduate Certificate Program in Biomedical Science and Engineering with Concentration in Nanotechnology, to be followed by a new PhD program in Systems Biology and Bioengineering. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.