CSHL Computational Cell Biology Course being held in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York

智力上的优点。计算细胞生物学的学科致力于开发生命系统的数学模型，例如细胞分裂过程中发生的分子相互作用。这种模型的目标有两个：1)预测细胞内动力系统的结果，从而使科学家能够解释细胞过程在疾病中是如何出错的。为了建立成功的模型，数学家和计算机科学家必须与实验细胞生物学家密切合作。在这种合作关系中，实验学家收集关于细胞过程以及它们如何随时间变化的定量信息，而数学家则利用这些信息来建立和改进准确反映生物学的计算机模型。自2008年以来，冷泉港实验室(CSHL)的计算细胞生物学短期课程每年夏天都会举行。该课程提供为期三周的强化实践培训，为学员启动他们自己的细胞过程或系统的建模和模拟研究项目做好准备。也许最重要的是，这门课程为实验细胞生物学家提供了与数学和计算科学家展开有效合作所必需的语言和工具。事实上，这门课程的主要受众是实验细胞生物学家，因为课程经过优化，旨在向生物学家介绍数学建模的基本原理，而不是相反。计算细胞生物学课程旨在满足在其他正规学习环境中一般不提供的高级方法跨学科培训的特殊需求。CSHL计算细胞生物学课程包括几个长期使用数学方法研究的主题，如钙信号、细胞周期、分子马达、细胞运动和发育过程中的基因表达。此外，CSHL课程为开发新的研究领域提供了知识基础，如细胞内第二信使信号的动力学、细胞程序性死亡、有丝分裂染色体运动和合成基因网络。这门课程有一个公认的记录，它将开发学科核心数学框架的理论家与用真实世界例子测试模型相关性的实验者聚集在一起，这在课堂上创造了一个协同的、跨学科的环境。该课程也有很高的教师与实习生比例，确保了与该学科专家互动的最大机会。CSHL的工作人员和课程讲师都通过网络尽可能广泛地提供计算细胞生物学的材料，允许将材料广泛传播给未被选中或因其他原因无法参加课程的感兴趣的科学家。这种传播有多种形式。直接提供给课程学生的材料与他们的实验室成员和其他同事共享；例如非正式手册和课程网站，这两个网站每年都会更新和制作。另一个基于课程材料的在线资源针对的是计算细胞生物学的教育工作者。此外，由课程讲师共同编写并向公众提供的一些教科书包括至少部分与计算细胞生物学课程有关的材料。申请者是由该课程的讲师根据几个标准选择的。来自那些可能很难学习课程材料的机构的有才华的学生将得到特别考虑，特别是如果他们的参与将导致在其本国机构内传播课程所教授的方法。讲师努力确保有代表性的女性和少数族裔科学家被选入他们的课程，美国公民身份或永久居留权是另一个重要考虑因素。这门课程有一个良好的记录，让传统上在数学和计算科学中代表性较低的人群参与进来，特别是女性。特别值得注意的是，2012年的四名课程讲师包括两名女性，她们是各自学科的资深资深研究人员。

Intellectual merit. The discipline of computational cell biology seeks to develop mathematical models of living systems, such as the molecular interactions that take place during cell division. The goals for such models are twofold: 1) predict outcomes from dynamical systems in the cell, thereby allowing scientists to 2) explain how cellular processes go awry in disease. To build successful models, mathematicians and computer scientists must work closely with experimental cell biologists. In this partnership, experimentalists collect quantitative information about cellular processes and how they change over time, while mathematicians use the information to build and improve upon computer models that accurately reflect the biology. The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) short course on Computational Cell Biology has taken place every summer since 2008. The course provides intensive, hands-on training over a three-week period that prepares participants to initiate their own research projects in the modeling and simulation of cellular processes or systems. Perhaps most importantly, the course provides experimental cell biologists with the language and tools necessary to launch effective collaborations with mathematical and computational scientists. Indeed, the primary audience for the course is experimental cell biologists, as the curriculum is optimized to introduce biologists to fundamental principles of mathematical modeling and not vice versa. The Computational Cell Biology course seeks to meet this special need for interdisciplinary training in advanced methodologies that is not generally available in other formal learning environments. The CSHL Computational Cell Biology course encompasses several topics that have long been studied using mathematical approaches, such as calcium signaling, the cell cycle, molecular motors, cell motility, and gene expression during development. In addition, the CSHL course provides an intellectual base for the development of newer areas of inquiry, such as the dynamics of intracellular second-messenger signaling, programmed cell death, mitotic chromosome movements, and synthetic gene networks. The course has a proven track record of bringing together theoreticians who develop the mathematical framework at the heart of the discipline with experimentalists who test the relevance of the models on real-world examples, and this creates a synergistic, interdisciplinary environment in the classroom. The course also has a high faculty-to-trainee ratio, ensuring maximal opportunity for interactions with experts in the discipline.Broader impacts. Both the staff at CSHL and the course instructors make materials from Computational Cell Biology as widely available as possible via the Web, allowing broad dissemination of the materials to interested scientists who were not selected or were otherwise unable to attend the course. Such dissemination takes a number of forms. Materials given directly to course students are shared with members of their laboratories and other colleagues; examples include the informal manual and the course Web site, both of which are updated and produced annually. A separate online resource based on course material is aimed at educators in computational cell biology. In addition, a number of textbooks co-authored by course instructors and available to the general public include material related at least in part to the Computational Cell Biology curriculum. Applicants are selected for the course by its instructors based on several criteria. Talented students from institutions where it may be difficult to learn the course material are given special consideration, particularly if their participation will lead to dissemination within their home institutions of the methods taught in the course. Instructors strive to ensure that representative numbers of women and minority scientists are selected for their course, and U.S. citizenship or permanent residency is another important consideration. The course has a good track record of involvement from populations traditionally underrepresented in the mathematical and computational sciences, particularly women. Of particular note, the set of four course instructors for 2012 includes two women who are senior, established researchers in their respective disciplines.