Predoctoral Program in Biophysics

描述(由申请人提供)：耶鲁大学生物物理学培训计划(BTP)的目标是为博士后学员提供必要的实践技能和智力发展，以进行终身研究，在一系列重要的生物医学主题上产生影响。这些主题植根于一组连接化学系和分子生物物理和生物化学系(MB&B)的教职员工的兴趣。我们的33名培训人员都对在分子水平上开发生物洞察力，特别是对结构、能量和动力学的关注有着共同的兴趣。发展洞察力的环境范围从合成模型系统到整个动物研究，并发表了跨越这一范围的串扰。我们的学生受益于结构生物学、光学和磁光谱学、物理化学、计算化学和低温电子显微镜方面的世界级专业知识。我们项目的结构和导师的技能培养了我们的学生的严谨、独立和创造力。我们渴望并成功地培养出敢于冒险的毕业生，他们将在生物物理学的前沿推动成为各自领域的下一代领导者。生物物理学对生物医学研究的重要性已经增长，并变得越来越有活力。这一点在耶鲁很明显，特别是在我们大幅增加的教师导师数量的提议中，这些导师还担任过病理学、遗传学、药理学、物理学、机械和化学工程等学科的教授。现在通过一个新成立的跨部门伞式轨道--生物化学、生物物理学和结构生物学(BBSB)--招收MB&B系的实习生。这条轨道是为了表彰许多系的导师在生物物理学方面的卓越表现而建立的，并极大地增加了我们的生源。这个项目的两个系的学员都有生物学、生物化学、分子生物学、合成和物理化学、物理和数学的背景。学生在第一年完成课程要求，并进行三次实验轮换。这些要求还增加了资格考试，迫使学生独立定义研究项目，并向教职员工小组口头辩护。然后，由三名教师导师组成的委员会监督论文的撰写，他们定期与受训者举行正式会议。我们建议在论文重点明确后，为研究生二年级和/或三年级的学生提供支持。BTP建立了方案身份，并极大地促进了两个部门之间通过几条途径进行的互动。这包括共享课程要素、轮换和联合活动，如每月学生研究讲座、接待来访的知名演讲者和新设立的务虚会/研讨会。这些规定，再加上培训员强大的智力和物质资源，使BTP能够培养出世界级的毕业生。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the Biophysics Training Program (BTP) at Yale is to equip pre-doctoral trainees with the practical skills and intellectual development necessary to perform a lifetime of research with impact across a range of vital, biomedical topics. These topics are rooted in the interests of a set of faculty linking the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (MB&B). Our 33 trainers are joined by a shared fascination in developing biological insights at the molecular level with particular attention to structure, energy and dynamics. The milieus under which insights are developed range from synthetic model systems to whole animal studies with published cross talk that spans this range. Our students benefit from world-class expertise in structural biology, optical and magnetic spectroscopies, physical chemistry, computational chemistry and cryo-electron microscopy. The structure of our program and the skills of our Mentors develop in our students rigor, independence and creativity. We aspire and succeed in producing adventurous graduates who push at the frontiers of Biophysics to become the next generation of leaders in their fields. The importance of biophysics to biomedical research has grown and become increasingly dynamic. This is evident at Yale and specifically in this proposal by our greatly increased number of faculty mentors who also hold appointments in, for example, Pathology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Physics, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering. Admissions of trainees to the MB&B Department now take place through a newly formed umbrella cross-departmental track, the Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology (BBSB). This track was forged in recognition of the presence of Biophysical excellence among mentors in many departments and has greatly increased our student pool. The pool of trainees coming to the two departments of this program have backgrounds that span biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, synthetic and physical chemistry, physics and mathematics. Students fulfill curricular requirements in their first year and perform three lab rotations. These requirements are augmented with qualifying exams that compel a student to independently define a research project and defend it orally to a faculty panel. The dissertation is then given oversight by a committee of three faculty mentors who hold regular formal meetings with the trainee. We propose support for our students in their second and/or third year of graduate school after the dissertation focus becomes clear. The BTP establishes programmatic identity and greatly facilitates interactions between the two departments by several routes. This includes shared curriculum elements, rotations and joint activities such as monthly student research talks, hosting of visiting eminent speakers and a newly established retreat/symposium. These provisions, combined with the strong intellectual and material resources of the trainers, enable the BTP to produce world-class graduates.