About the Program

Description

Trainees are expected to complete either the standard Graduate School core curriculum or the theorist's track curriculum, and take as Core III either one of two courses, depending on their research interests. Students interested in macromolecular structures and functions will take a newly designed course to fulfill their Core III requirement. This course is structured to expose the students to the range of experimental, mathematical, and computational methods used to investigate molecular sequences, structures, and functions. Students interested in other areas of modern biomathematics and its application to a range of biological systems (such as including nonlinear dynamical systems analysis, advanced image analysis, computational neuroscience, mathematical and computational genetics, and other aspects of cellular, organismal, or population biology, mathematical genetics, computational neurobiology, imaging, etc.) will take a new multidisciplinary Mathematical Modeling course to fulfill Core III. This course is designed to provide students with the mathematical foundations for modeling biological, biophysical, and biomedical functions in a wide range of systems. The students will extend their training by selecting from the Graduate School curriculum a combination of more advanced courses that focus on their area of specialization.

The BSBB training program offers a range of courses that provide training in specific areas pertinent to its scientific goals. Among them are courses that are already offered in the Graduate School curriculum, as well as new courses. For example the curriculum includes courses in Theoretical Biophysics, Diffraction Methods in Analysis of Macromolecules, Spectroscopic Approaches to Structure and Dynamics of Macromolecules, Computational Structural Biology, Biophysics of Membranes and Membrane Proteins, Biophysics of Proteins and DNA, Mathematical Methods, Mathematical Modelling, and Advanced Topics in Computational Molecular Biology.

Students are required to participate in a Student Seminar/Journal Club and in Departmental Seminars relevant to their fields of interest. They are also expected to participate in appropriate specialized Discussion/Interest Groups organized by the training faculty (e.g., Receptor Interest Group, DNA Interest Group, Spectroscopy Interest Group, and so on.). At the end of the second year, the students are expected to pass the first part of the Second Level examination. In this part, they will be expected to demonstrate general knowledge in their training area and advanced knowledge in their field of specialization. Part two of the Second Level consists of a thesis proposal and its defense. Successful passing of the Second Level examinations enables the students to conduct their doctoral research under the guidance of a qualified thesis advisor and a specialized advisory committee. The advisory committee will be selected jointly by the student and the advisor and will be approved by the steering committee. Upon completion of his/her dissertation, a student will present it in an open forum and defend it before an examining committee.

The broad, interdisciplinary nature of this training program requires a large faculty base with a strong desire to participate in its cooperative research and teaching endeavor. In addition to providing rigorous training in specific fields of specialization, the participating faculty work together to develop new biophysical, structural, and biomathematical approaches to a range of cutting-edge problems in biology and biomedical research.