Grant: Collaborative Research and Training Experience

Technological innovation and biological discovery are intimately related. The last ten years have seen a complete paradigm shift in the life sciences, occasioned by transformative technologies that allow us to rapidly and quantitatively analyze samples on the DNA, protein, and cellular levels. Exploiting and furthering these advances requires a new generation of biologists, physical scientists, and engineers. Biologists must increasingly be quantitative and must be intimately familiar with the capabilities and limitations of emerging technologies. Similarly, engineers and technologists must have first hand knowledge of the current opportunities and bottlenecks in science. The traditional boundaries of biology, physical science, and engineering are thus becoming blurred, and there is an urgent need for training programs that bridge the nexus of technology and biology. In response to this we will establish a cross-cutting training program focused on the development and application of high-throughput technologies in biological research. We have assembled a like-minded coalition of world-leading researcher labs from the physical, life and engineering sciences to create a unified graduate training program. The training of graduate students from engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology will be combined through a series of research rotations, industrial internships, international exchange, and a tailored curriculum including hands-on training workshops, new course offerings, and professional development activities. Students from diverse backgrounds will work side-by-side and will gain first-hand exposure to modern technological innovations in the context of outstanding biological and biomedical research topics. Trainees will receive hands-on training with state-of-the-art instrumentation, ranging from high-end mass spectrometry, to next-generation sequencing, to nanofabrication. We anticipate that this graduate program will become a flagship of interdisciplinary training at the international level, uniquely positioned to train the next generation of scientists.