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Overview
The strength of the MGET training program is its multidisciplinary research environment. Members of the training group include mathematicians, biochemists, molecular biologists, microbiologists, statisticians, engineers, and computer scientists. The CBAA training program is structured to ensure that our students are exposed to the CBAA faculty's diverse talents and perspectives. During the first year, laboratory rotations with three CBAA faculty will provide Ph.D. trainees with first-hand experience in both "wet" and "dry" lab environments. To provide exposure to computational biology in an industrial setting, fellows will also have the opportunity to work as interns with industrial or USDA-ARS laboratory partners during the summer semester, either prior to or after the first academic year. In the second year, fellows will initiate a multidisciplinary research project under the guidance of a team of two mentors: one a biologist and one a computational scientist/mathematician. This intensive emphasis on collaborative research training will be balanced by a core group of courses in biological and computational sciences and several recently developed specialized courses at the interface of these disciplines. Among the latter are courses designed to provide either computer scientists/mathematicians with accelerated training in molecular biology, or biologists with accelerated training in mathematics.
The CBAA training group will provide multidisciplinary research training with special emphasis on using systems-wide approaches to address emerging areas in animal agriculture. This will require understanding a breadth of disciplines, including biology, computer science, statistics and mathematics, and how they can be integrated to solve specific research problems. Upon completion of their degrees, CBAA fellows will have comprehensive research skills that can be applied in their future careers. The goal of the CBAA education and training plan is to integrate the research efforts of CBAA faculty with coursework and other training experiences into an effective and innovative training program. This will be accomplished by requiring all CBAA fellows to participate in a common set of courses and training activities. These activities will add cohesiveness to the training program and expose all participants to the diverse perspectives offered by each discipline. Specific training activities required of all CBAA fellows are described in detail on the following pages and include:
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Joint mentoring of graduate student fellows by a biologist and a computational scientist
- Introduction to Computational Molecular Biology - a core course in bioinformatics
- Faculty Research Seminar - meets weekly during fall semester
- Annual Fall CBAA Research Retreat - presentations by current trainees will be required
- Annual Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Symposium
- Monthly research and "potluck" dinner - dinner meetings will be centered around a specific research project members from several laboratories presenting their work
- Internships -trainees will experience computational molecular biology as carried out by our industrial, government, or international partners
- Annual attendance at major national scientific meetings
- Bioethics Symposia and Coursework
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to top Relationship of CBAA training group to existing graduate majors
The CBAA training group is integrally related to existing departmental and interdepartmental graduate programs at ISU. Participating graduate programs include, but are not limited to:
The CBAA fellowships will be open to any graduate major at ISU as long as candidates follow the CBAA training program guidelines, including appointing thesis mentors in multiple disciplines and participating in the required courses and activities. Back
to top Interdisciplinary mentoring
During their first year, CBAA fellows will conduct laboratory rotations with three CBAA faculty. These rotations must include first-hand experience in both "wet" and "dry" lab environments. Fellows will also have the opportunity to work as interns with industrial, government, or international partners during summers, either prior to or after the first academic year. In the second year, fellows will initiate a multidisciplinary thesis research project under the guidance of two mentors, one biologist and one mathematician/computer scientist/statistician. One mentor will serve as the student's 'major professor' and the other as the 'co-major professor'. Joint mentoring is viewed as critical in promoting the interdisciplinary mission of the training program. Back
to top Required courses for
MGET Fellows
Students will be required to take the appropriate survey course (BCB 484 or BCB 495), as well as foundation courses in computational biology (BCB 594) and molecular genetics (GEN 511). This set of courses will be taken in the first year and will provide all CBAA students with a common multidisciplinary base. Seminar courses are vital to the interdisciplinary mission of CBAA. They effectively integrate the research efforts with the educational experiences garnered through coursework and maintain a sense of community among students and faculty throughout the predoctoral period. CBAA fellows must attend one seminar each semester.
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology 484 "Computational Mathematics for Biologists" A survey of graph theory, linear algebra, discrete math, and algorithms used in computational biology with examples taken from genomics, phylogenetics, and structure problems.
OR
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology 495. "Molecular Biology for Computational Scientists" A survey of molecular cell biology and molecular genetics for nonbiologists, especially those interested in bioinformatics/computational biology. Basic cell structure and function; principles of molecular genetics; biosynthesis, structure, and function of DNA/RNA/proteins; regulation of gene expression; selected topics. Provides biological background for BCB 594.
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology 594 "Computational Molecular Biology" Introduction to the biological background and the algorithms used in sequence comparison and data base search, fragment assembly and physical mapping of DNA, building of phylogenetic trees, analysis of genome rearrangement, and molecular structure prediction. Practice with some of the software commonly used for these problems.
Genetics 511 "Molecular Genetics" The principles of molecular genetics: gene structure and function at the molecular level, including regulation of gene expression, genetic rearrangement, and the organization of genetic information in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
Fall Faculty Research Seminar. This in-house seminar series is sponsored by the Laurence H. Baker Center in Computational Biology and Biological Statistics and will feature research efforts of participating faculty and industrial
collaborators
.
CBAA Student Seminar. Each spring, students will present an account of their annual research progress to peers and to two faulty mentors, who will promote group discussions of experimental procedures and analysis.
In addition to the core courses, students must complete at least nine credits of advanced coursework, including at least three credits Molecular/Cellular Biology and at least three credits in Computer Science/Mathematics/Statistics. Throughout the training program, CBAA students will be required to meet all obligations of their major department or graduate program.
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to top Summer internships in industry, government or international laboratories.
To round out the preparation of MGET fellows for research in computational molecular biology, trainees will have the opportunity to participate in summer research internships, either prior to or after the first year of graduate school. It is anticipated that some research internships will result in collaborative projects that will continue throughout the student's training period. ISU has an excellent collaborative relationship with the USDA National Animal Disease Center located in Ames, and several CBAA faculty have established relationships with industry as well as governmental and international laboratories.
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