Computational and Structural Biology in Biodefense

项目描述（申请者提供）：我校将在生物化学、生物物理学、分子生物学、结构生物学、生物信息学、基因组学、蛋白质组学、数据库管理、化学生物学、细胞生物学、免疫学、病毒学、病理学等学科领域建立生物防御计算与结构生物学博士点和博士后培养计划。过去20年，传染病卷土重来，艾滋病和非典型肺炎等新疾病出现，生物恐怖主义也构成了新的威胁。因此，迫切需要在这个多学科领域培养一流的、富有想象力和创造力的科学家。将着重强调这些领域的交叉训练。为生物威胁剂和新出现或重新出现的传染病开发新疫苗、治疗方法和诊断方法的机会从未像今天这样大，发展跨学科培训的必要性从未像今天这样重要。本培训经费申请要求资助6名博士预科生和4名博士后学员；每位受训人员将获得为期两年的资助。加上墨西哥湾沿岸联盟的W. M. Keck计算生物学中心以及生物防御和新发传染病西部卓越区域中心和加尔维斯顿国家实验室提供的研究、基础设施和培训支持，这一数字将为该计划的32名导师基地提供足够的学员数量，因为每个学员都将被要求参加跨学科研究。有一名主要导师和一名辅助导师，一名是结构、计算或化学生物学，另一名是与生物防御和传染病相关的生物医学领域。这个项目成功的部分原因是基于团队的、多学科的、多机构的科学家小组已经合作了14年多，包括贝勒医学院、莱斯大学、休斯顿大学、德克萨斯大学HSC、休斯顿m.d.安德森癌症中心的研究人员。和UTMB加尔维斯顿。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We will establish a multidisciplinary predoctoral and postdoctoral Training Program in Computational and Structural Biology in Biodefense, spanning the fields of biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, structural biology, bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, database management, chemical biology, cell biology, immunology, virology, and pathology. The last 20 years have seen a remarkable resurgence of infectious diseases and the emergence of new ones such as AIDS and SARS, as well as the new threat from bioterrorism. Consequently, there is a critical need to train first-rate, imaginative, and creative scientists in this multidisciplinary field. Strong emphasis will be placed on cross-training in these fields. The opportunities to develop new vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for biothreat agents and emerging or reemerging infectious diseases have never been greater, and the need to develop interdisciplinary training never more important than today. This training grant application requests support for six predoctoral and four postdoctoral trainees; each trainee will be supported for a period of two years. Together with the research and infrastructure and training support provided by the W. M. Keck Center for Computational Biology of the Gulf Coast Consortia as well as the Western Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Galveston National Laboratory, this number will provide an adequate critical mass of trainees for the base of 32 mentors in the program, as each trainee will be required to participate in interdisciplinary research, with a primary mentor and a secondary co-mentor, one in structural, computational or chemical biology and the other in a biomedical field related to biodefense and infectious diseases. Part of the success of this program is the team-based, multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional groups of scientists that have worked together now for over 14 years, consisting of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Rice U., U. of Houston, U. of Texas HSC, Houston M. D. Anderson Cancer Ctr., and UTMB Galveston.