Graduate Training in Molecular Biophysics

描述（申请人提供）：德克萨斯农工大学和德克萨斯农工大学健康科学中心的17个优秀研究小组创建了一个跨学科的分子生物物理学研究生培训项目。培训教师的专业知识涵盖广泛的研究技术和生物系统，从生物物理化学和生物分子光谱学到结构和计算生物学。每个PI都致力于在分子水平上探索复杂的生物过程，实验重点从热力学到动力学，从单分子到多组分复合物，从可溶性到膜结合系统。这种多样性将为受训者提供广泛的研究和课程设置，以及深入的理解，确保mba培训项目的成功。mba教师在mba领域建立了富有成效的、外部资助的、装备精良的研究项目，并成功地指导和培训了研究生。硕士培训教员主要在五个不同的院系任职，但在研究、教学和期刊俱乐部中有着悠久的合作互动历史。与各个部门相关的研究生项目已经证明了他们从美国各地招收优秀学生进行研究生学习的能力，而mba招聘将补充这些努力。学员将进入硕士课程，并通过两个部门之一获得博士学位。每年将有三名新学生获得硕士奖学金，每人将在博士学习的前两年获得支持。在第一年，每个学生将在选择研究顾问之前进行三次实验室轮转，无论他/她隶属于哪个部门。在最初的两年期间，理学硕士学员将接受有关基本生物物理和生化原理、负责任的研究行为以及研究结果的解释和陈述的正式培训。选修课程将提供分子生物物理学各方面的高级培训。学员将在整个研究生生涯中参加生物物理学期刊俱乐部，以提高他们的演讲技巧，并在第二年之后保持对项目的参与感。我们期待硕士课程的毕业生能够在后基因组时代为生物医学科学做出重要贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Seventeen outstanding research groups at Texas A&M University and the Texas A&M University Health Science Center have created an interdisciplinary graduate student training program in Molecular Biophysics (MB). The expertise of the training faculty spans a wide range of research techniques and biological systems, from biophysical chemistry and bio-molecular spectroscopy to structural and computational biology. Each PI is dedicated to exploring complex biological processes at the molecular level, and the experimental focus ranges from thermodynamics to kinetics, from single molecules to multi-component complexes, and from soluble to membrane-bound systems. This diversity will provide trainees with the breadth of research and course offerings and the depth of understanding that ensures a successful training program in MB. The MB faculty members have established productive, externally-funded, and well-equipped research programs in the MB area, and have been successful in mentoring and training graduate students. The MB training faculty members have primary appointments in five different departments, but share a strong history of collaborative interactions in research, in teaching, and in journal clubs. The graduate programs associated with individual departments have demonstrated their ability to recruit outstanding students from across the United States for graduate study, and MB recruiting will complement these efforts. Trainees will enter the MB program and receive their Ph.D. degrees through one of two departments. Three new students will receive an MB fellowship each year, and each will be supported for the initial two years of Ph.D. study. In the first year, each student will do three laboratory rotations prior to choosing a research advisor from the MB faculty, regardless of his/her departmental affiliation. During the initial two-year period, MB trainees will receive formal training in the fundamental biophysical and biochemical principles, the responsible conduct of research, and the interpretation and presentation of research results. Advanced training in various aspects of molecular biophysics will be provided by elective courses. Trainees will participate in the biophysics journal club throughout their graduate careers, both to improve their presentation skills and to maintain a sense of participation in the program following the second year. We anticipate that graduates of the MB training program will be well-positioned to make critical contributions to the biomedical sciences in the post-genomic era.