Leuba Sanford H, Carney Sean M, Dahlburg Elizabeth M, Eells Rebecca J, Ghodke Harshad, Yanamala Naveena, Schauer Grant, Klein-Seetharaman Judith
Graduate Program in Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA ; Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPCI, Hillman Cancer Center, 5117 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Graduate Program in Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
BMC Biophys. 2014 Aug 5;7:6. doi: 10.1186/2046-1682-7-6. eCollection 2014.
A key challenge in interdisciplinary research is choosing the best approach from a large number of techniques derived from different disciplines and their interfaces.
To address this challenge in the area of Biophysics and Structural Biology, we have designed a graduate level course to teach students insightful use of experimental biophysical approaches in relationship to addressing biological questions related to biomolecular interactions and dynamics. A weekly seminar and data and literature club are used to compliment the training in class. The course contains wet-laboratory experimental demonstration and real-data analysis as well as lectures, grant proposal preparation and assessment, and student presentation components. Active student participation is mandatory in all aspects of the class. Students prepare materials for the class receiving individual and iterative feedback from course directors and local experts generating high quality classroom presentations.
The ultimate goal of the course is to teach students the skills needed to weigh different experimental approaches against each other in addressing a specific biological question by thinking and executing academic tasks like faculty.
跨学科研究中的一个关键挑战是从大量源自不同学科及其交叉领域的技术中选择最佳方法。
为应对生物物理学和结构生物学领域的这一挑战，我们设计了一门研究生水平的课程，教导学生如何富有洞察力地运用实验生物物理方法来解决与生物分子相互作用和动力学相关的生物学问题。每周举办一次研讨会以及数据与文献俱乐部，以辅助课堂培训。该课程包含湿实验室实验演示、真实数据分析，以及讲座、科研基金申请书撰写与评估，还有学生展示环节。课堂的各个方面都要求学生积极参与。学生为课堂准备材料，并从课程负责人和当地专家那里获得个性化的反复反馈，从而制作出高质量的课堂展示。
该课程的最终目标是教导学生掌握必要技能，以便他们能像教师一样思考并执行学术任务，在解决特定生物学问题时权衡不同的实验方法。
