Computational and Structural Biology in Biodefense

描述（由申请人提供）：我们将建立一个多学科的生物防御计算和结构生物学博士前和博士后培训计划，涵盖生物化学，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，病毒学和病理学领域。在过去20年中，传染病显著死灰复燃，出现了艾滋病和萨斯等新的传染病，以及生物恐怖主义的新威胁。因此，迫切需要在这一多学科领域培养一流的、富有想象力和创造力的科学家。将大力强调这些领域的交叉培训。开发针对生物威胁因子和新发或再发传染病的新疫苗、疗法和诊断方法的机会从未如此之大，而发展跨学科培训的必要性也从未像今天这样重要。这项培训补助金申请要求为6名博士前和4名博士后受训人员提供支助;每名受训人员将获得为期两年的支助。再加上W。M.墨西哥湾沿岸财团的凯克计算生物学中心以及西部区域生物防御和新兴传染病卓越中心和加尔维斯顿国家实验室，这个数字将为该项目的32名导师提供足够的学员临界质量，因为每个学员都需要参与跨学科研究，并有一名主要导师和一名二级共同导师，一个在结构、计算或化学生物学领域，另一个在与生物防御和传染病有关的生物医学领域。该计划成功的一部分是以团队为基础的，多学科，多机构的科学家小组，他们已经合作了14年多，包括贝勒医学院，赖斯大学，联合Houston，U.德克萨斯州HSC，Houston M. D.安德森癌症中心，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.