As a fundamental component of MITs new Computational and Systems Biology Initiative (CSBi;), a new interdisciplinary predoctoral graduate training program in computational and systems biology is proposed. Program faculty are concentrated in the three founding academic units ? Biology, Biological Engineering (BE), and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS), with additional involvement of faculty from other departments, such as Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Faculty from these departments are actively involved in research programs spanning a broad set of topics in computational and systems biology, including gene and protein networks, cell and tissue engineering, imaging and image informatics, predictive toxicology and metabolic engineering, genomics and proteomics, nanobiology and microsystems, molecular biophysics, and cancer biology. Students will apply directly to the Ph.D. program from their undergraduate or Master's institution and receive interdisciplinary training in the emerging field of computational and systems biology. Unique aspects of the program include: (a) close association with the multi- and inter-disciplinary research agenda of CSBi, (b) a unique core formed from newly developed, interdisciplinary classroom subjects that combine biology, engineering, and computation, (c) a seminar program focusing on a broad range of research both within and outside of MIT and that includes student participation, (d) an annual retreat with participation of students and faculty focusing on research, leadership, and challenges to interdisciplinary research, (e) the annual CSBi symposium, which is an exceptional conference bringing leaders in the field to MIT each year, and (f) multi-disciplinary thesis committees.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Interdisciplinary Regular Research Training Award (R90)
Project #
5R90DK071503-03
Application #
7120598
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDK1-GRB-3 (O1))
Program Officer
Bishop, Terry Rogers
Project Start
2004-09-30
Project End
2009-07-31
Budget Start
2006-08-01
Budget End
2007-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2006
Total Cost
$292,875
Indirect Cost
Name
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department
Chemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
001425594
City
Cambridge
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02139
Octavio, Leah M; Gedeon, Kamil; Maheshri, Narendra (2009) Epigenetic and conventional regulation is distributed among activators of FLO11 allowing tuning of population-level heterogeneity in its expression. PLoS Genet 5:e1000673
Fry, Rebecca C; Svensson, J Peter; Valiathan, Chandni et al. (2008) Genomic predictors of interindividual differences in response to DNA damaging agents. Genes Dev 22:2621-6
Tadmor, Brigitta; Tidor, Bruce (2005) Interdisciplinary research and education at the biology-engineering-computer science interface: a perspective. Drug Discov Today 10:1183-9