UBM-Group: An Integrative Analysis of Human Cancer: Exploiting the Synergy of Mathematical and Molecular Biological Approaches in Studying a Complex Problem

该项目开发了一种跨学科培训模式，利用课堂教学的有效性和研究经验的力量。该项目包括一门生物学和癌症生物学的课程，以及一门数学和生物科学中的数学技术课程，在这两门课程中，一群学生将在大三的春季学期联合注册。教师将协调课程，以便为学生为期一年的研究体验做好准备。这些研究项目将使用一个通用的模型系统，即人类白血病细胞系，它可以在培养中被“强迫”表现出正常的细胞特性。学生们将与教师导师团队合作开发研究项目，利用需要整合生物学和数学技术的现代方法，探索将细胞从癌症状态转换到正常状态的分子事件。该项目将教师与分子生物学和数学方面的培训结合在一起，这些培训可以协同应用于一个重要而复杂的问题--癌症生物学的研究。科学中许多重要的悬而未决的问题很可能在21世纪通过合作努力得到解决，这些人都是受过跨学科思考者培训的，这个项目将在本科生水平上培养这种跨学科思维。从18岁到30岁的本科生将通过这个为期3年的项目获得深入的跨学科培训和合作研究经验。

This project develops a model of interdisciplinary training that takes advantage of the effectiveness of classroom instruction and the power of research experience. The project includes the linkage of a course in Biology, The Biology of Cancer, and a course in Mathematics, Mathematical Techniques in the Biological Sciences, in which cohorts of students will co-enroll in the spring semester of their junior year. Faculty will coordinate the courses so that they prepare the students for a year-long research experience. The research projects will use a common model system, a human leukemia cell line that can be "coerced" to exhibit normal cell properties in culture. Students will work in teams with the faculty mentor team to develop research projects that explore the molecular events that convert cells from the cancer state to the normal state, using modern methods that require integration of biological and mathematical techniques. The project brings together faculty with training in molecular biology and mathematics that can be synergistically applied to the study of an important and complex problem, the biology of cancer. Many of the important unanswered questions in science are likely to be solved in the 21st century through collaborative efforts involving individuals trained as interdisciplinary thinkers, and this project will nurture such interdisciplinary thinking at the undergraduate level. From 18-30 undergraduate students will gain in-depth interdisciplinary training and collaborative research experience through this 3-year program.