Faculty Development

Center for Cell Decision Processes (MIT)

Faculty Sabbaticals
The Center for Cell Decision Processes (CDP) hosts an expense-paid sabbatical program for faculty who work at institutions serving underrepresented minority students or who are underrepresented minorities themselves. Two sabbatical positions are held in CDP-affiliated research groups in Harvard Medical School’s Department of Systems Biology and MIT’s Schools of Science, Engineering and Management. Funds are provided to cover salaries, research expenses and moving costs.

A visiting professor position is currently available for a 3-month sabbatical in Summer 2012. For more information, see http://www.cdpcenter.org/community/education/sabbaticals/ .

Council for Systems Biology in Boston (CSB2)
CSB² is a joint effort of academic institutions and companies that coordinates local activities in the areas of systems and quantitative biology as well as systematic analysis of human disease and treatment. During the past year, CSB² coordinated two systems biology conferences: a regional meeting, “Cells, Circuits & Computation”, on January 23, 2009 at Harvard University; and an international meeting, “Systems Biology of Human Disease”, from June 18-19, 2009 at HMS. The CDP Center was a sponsor for both of these meetings.

Center for Complex Biological Systems (UC Irvine)

Visiting Scholars/Researchers Program in Systems Biology
The University of California, Irvine has initiated a Visiting Scholars/Researchers Program in Systems Biology to begin in 2008. This new program is made possible by the recent major award of support for an NIH- NIGMS P50 National Center for Systems Biology focusing on how biological systems in model organisms process spatial information during development, intracellular signaling, and cell proliferation. Other efforts within the Center include the development of computational and optical tools needed for measuring and modeling spatially dynamic systems. Besides the new Center, research and training in systems biology at UCI is fostered by several interdisciplinary research units and Ph.D. training programs in Bioinformatics, and Mathematical and Computational Biology.

Center for Genome Dynamics (The Jackson Laboratory)

Short Course on Systems Genetics
The one-week Short Course on Systems Genetics covers computational and experimental approaches to genetic studies that utilize whole genome approaches. The course is led by Gary Churchill of the Center for Genome Dynamics and lectures and computer workshops are designed to accommodate students with a wide variety of backgrounds.

Center for Quantitative Biology (Princeton University)

Faculty sabbatical visitors
The Lewis-Sigler Institute at Princeton University welcomes faculty from academic institutions as sabbatical visitors for a summer term or an academic semester. We particularly encourage sabbatical visits from faculty at institutions with underrepresented minority students. Some Center funds are available for faculty salary support during the visit.

Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology (UC San Francisco)

Visiting Professors and/or Scientists
Another way to bring expertise in the physical and quantitative sciences to the UCSF Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology is through visiting professors and/or scientists for a summer term or an academic semester. We will target having three visiting professors and/or scientists each year. Of the three positions, one will be targeted toward scholars who teach at academic institutions with a large underrepresented minority population. Having faculty members from such institutions spend time at UCSF will help give undergraduates at their home institution exposure to and opportunities in the emerging field of systems biology. It will also allow us to establish “sister institution” relationships with such undergraduate schools. Some Center funds are available for faculty and/or visiting scientists to support their stay.

Center for Systems Biology (Institute for Systems Biology)

Courses. The ISB’s mission includes a strong commitment to education, and in particular, to the dissemination of our approaches to thinking about and implementing systems biology. Probably the single most effective approach is through the courses offered at ISB, targeted towards researchers in the early stages of their careers and “cross-training” researchers established in their careers. These courses are designed to reduce the “barrier to entry” associated with the implementation of new technologies and computation. In the spirit of collaboration, experts and novices are invited to participate in these courses.

We have used Center support to ‘seed’ the development of new courses. The Center has seeded the creation of two new courses, Microfluidics, and Network Analysis. These successful courses have been developed into formal, self sustaining courses and are offered to the broader community beyond ISB. Introduction to Systems Biology and Quantitative Approaches to Biomedical Sciences (taught yearly 2007 – 2010 by John Aitchison and Center Faculty) is a course for undergraduate students at the University of Washington. The course is intended to act as a bridge from undergraduate to graduate research in systems biology. Introduction to Systems Biology, taught yearly 2007 – 2010 (by Aitchison and Center Faculty), is a one-week course which introduces and develops the skills and concepts necessary for comprehension and application of modern systems biology approaches to research problems. As a result of the course, each student will have the knowledge to complete a research outline of a systems-based grant application. Proteomics Informatics, created by the Seattle Proteome Center and supported by the Center, is taught yearly 2007 – 2010. This is a five day course which teaches the tools available to process tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) data. A series of teaching modules that include both lecture and hands-on tutorials are taught on the Trans Proteomic Pipeline (TPP) tools, and how to use PeptideAtlas, Center supported resources.

Chicago Center for Systems Biology

Faculty Career Development Program: Junior & Senior Levels
The purpose of the faculty Career Development Program is to identify and train investigators interested in systems biology research and developing new Center projects relating to transcriptional dynamics and modeling programs using the Center’s core resources. Pilot grants are available for support.

Duke Center for Systems Biology

Visiting Scholars
The DCSB invites proposals for short-term visitors. Visitors will reside on-site for the appointment period, which can range from a few days to a few months. Research proposals can address any aspect of systems biology, but we have a strong preference for collaborative projects that engage members of our group. Applications should include CV, brief research proposal (two pages), and cover letter stating proposed dates and rationale for the visit.

Visitors will receive reimbursement for travel and housing expenses and an honorarium to cover incidental expenses. Proposals will be evaluated on a continuous basis. Women and members of under-represented groups are especially encouraged to apply. U.S. citizenship is not a requirement; however, international scholars should contact us before applying because of visa restrictions. Please direct questions and applications to Greg Wray.

New Mexico Center for Spatiotemporal Modeling

Faculty Recruits
The STMC offers one recruiting package each year to young interdisciplinary scientists who are joining the Schools of Medicine or Engineering or College of Arts and Sciences and whose research is directly complementary to the STMC goals in cell signaling research, technology development and computational modeling. Recruits supported by our P20 (Developmental) grant included current STMC leaders Jeremy Edwards (SOM and SOE), Diane Lidke (SOM) and Keith Lidke (A&S). New recruits supported by our current P50 award (2009-2014) include: Drs. Jennifer Gillette and Vittorio Cristini (to the SOM, Dept of Pathology) and Dr. Lydia Tapia (to the SOE, Dept of Computer Science). Other faculty searches are ongoing.

STMC Opportunities for Faculty

Visitors
The New Mexico Center for the Spatiotemporal Modeling of Cell Signaling Networks (STMC) invites short-term visitors to participate in our programs and learn our technology and software.

STMC Visitor Program

Systems Biology Center New York (SBCNY)

Visiting Faculty
Visiting faculty can spend up to three months at the Center. SBCNY will provide partial support for the visits to defray housing and living expenses. The goal of the visits will depend on the individual and can take one of two formats: a) develop the researcher’s projects with the complementary resources (either experimental or theoretical) or b) allow the researcher to participate in one of the ongoing projects within the SBCNY.