“The grant will support a new interdivisional graduate program that will be based in the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics (IBD) housed in the new Center for Intergrative Science,” explains Sosnick. “However, we appreciate the limits of the IBD's research program, so, in keeping with the spirit of the program, more than half of the faculty members involved in this program will be from the physical sciences, medical sciences, and Argonne [National Laboratory].”

“We want this graduate program to be inclusive rather than exclusive and allow students ample opportunity to work with a wide variety of faculty from across the spectrum of science,” Sosnick adds. “We anticipate that this program will attract a type of student that largely falls through the gaps in our current graduate programs, students that are interested in conducting research that spans the traditional boundaries between physical and biological science.”

The time frame for this new program includes the interviewing of students for admission at the beginning of 2007 with everything in place the following academic year. Seven to ten students will be admitted in the first year, which will allow for one third to one half of a student per participating faculty member.

"We have been ahead of the game in terms of name recognition, interdisciplinary partnerships, and new facilities, but behind in terms of creating our own graduate program that will train students to be both competent biologists and competent physical scientists in less time than it takes to complete an M.D./Ph.D.," says Sosnick. "This program is clearly unique in its scope, as evidenced in the number and variety of faculty members who are participating in its development."

The first year would include an intense, 16 hours/week lab course, where students would learn how to make and measure biomolecules and analyze the data they collect. Once in the program, students will learn how to do modern molecular biology and use modern biophysical tools, exposing the students to the broader research tools than that normally available in a single lab environment, so they will be more willing to use these approaches in their own research.

After three years, the HHMI funding is finished, and a second competition will take place, at which time the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) will take over funding for sustaining of the programs.

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Novel Graduate Program Bridges Biological and Physical Sciences
As one who experiences life on both sides of the divide, Tobin Sosnick, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, understands how valuable cross-disciplinary interactions between the biological and physical sciences can be...

SPOTLIGHT ON: Faculty of Ambulatory Operations
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Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators
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DEVELOPMENT
Recent Awards and Grants Information for Biological Sciences Division Faculty

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Recent Awards and Grants Information for Biological Sciences Division Faculty

ACCOLADES
Recent Awards and Grants Information for Biological Sciences Division Faculty

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