The objective of the proposed program is to provide a 10-week residential summer research experience in mathematical biology to undergraduate students from around the U.S. and Puerto Rico, with the goal of increasing their desire and preparation to enter a Ph.D. program in mathematics or computational biology. The students will be mentored by faculty from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. They will participate in research projects in two related areas: Modeling of mammalian intracellular iron metabolism in two cell types, as well as a multiscale model connecting the intracellular and the systemic scales; and construction and implementation of mathematical algorithms for the analysis of biological networks. These algorithms will be used to study models of iron metabolism.
It is widely recognized that mathematical tools are indispensable for the understanding of biological networks and their dynamic properties. The proposed program involves students in research projects that model biological networks with mathematical tools. The students will develop the tools as well as apply them. The projects are carried out in close collaboration with experimental scientists. The program will prepare a total of 36 undergraduates for the challenges of modern interdisciplinary quantitative life sciences research. It will motivate them to enter a Ph.D. program and will help them be successful in their graduate career. Particular emphasis in recruiting will be placed on the inclusion of members from underrepresented groups. Thus, the program will contribute to the recruitment and training of a highly specialized workforce at the interface of experiment and computation, responding to the ever-growing need for experts that can apply quantitative methods to life science and biomedical research.
" (MSSB) at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech was designed to provide an intensive research experience for mathematics majors in the life sciences, with the goal of attracting students into careers in interdisciplinary research at the interface of the mathematical and the life sciences. It is well established that actual research experiences are an effective means of showing students the excitement and societal relevance of scientific research. The research program was supplemented with information about a broad range of careers in business and government, including meetings with professionals working in those fields. For instance, students attended a discussion session with Dr. Jim Brown, Director of Bioinformatics at Glaxo Smith Kline, an international pharmaceutical company. They also talked with Dr. Miriam Quintal, a biochemist by training, now at the consulting firm Lewis Burke and Associates, who previously worked as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives. For 10 weeks in the summer, the students worked in teams of 2-4 on an ongoing, team-based research project, together with one or more mentors. The students participated in all aspects of the projects and, in the process, obtained a detailed view of the operations of a state-of-the-art research center at the interface of computation and experiment. The projects covered a range of topics. Some focused on more theoretical questions, such as a search for principles of genetic network design that help assure that organismal phenotype is robust to external and internal perturbations. Others had as their goal the development of mathematical algorithms and software to simulate complex biological systems on a computer. And yet others used experimental data, either from the literature or from the laboratories of participating faculty, to study questions about specific biological problems. An example includes a computer model of a section of lung tissue to study the immune response to inhaled spores of a common fungus. See Image 1. Each year, between 12 and 14 students participated in the program. The typical participant was a double major in mathematics and biology/biochemistry/computer science/physics, to name the most common disciplines. Of the students who graduated, all but one are in a Ph.D. program in a STEM field or have been admitted to one for fall 2014. Below are some feedback we have received from students: "… overall MSSB set up a cascade of events that got me to where I am now, and I'm really thankful for the experience." Leslie – REU student 2011 – currently a PhD student in biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health "Although I no longer am pursuing research in any way similar to what I did at VBI, I am very grateful for the opportunities is has brought me afterwards. I started working with a professor at NCSU that Reinhard suggested, and that professor was willing because of my research experience at VBI. Now, I'm working with a professor at CU from the suggestion of the professor at NCSU, so it really all started with VBI." John – REU student 2011 – currently a PhD student in Interdisciplinary Quantiative Biology at University of Colorado, Boulder "….the REU program at VT really helped me discover the broad array of applications for my math skills, and convinced me that I want to be doing research in a health-related context." Laurel – REU student 2011 – will be starting in a PhD program in biostatistics at the University of Minnesota. "The REU certainly helped prepare me for working on my research, as well as helping me learn how to go about getting research done." – Jim - REU student – 2012 – currently a PhD student in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin.
