Nanobiology Interdisciplinary Graduate Training Program (NIGTP)

Director: Rebekah Drezek, Rice Univeristy

The intersection of nanotechnology with biology promises to yield significant advances for diagnostics and therapeutics. Conventional approaches from the molecular level or the more macroscale level do not extrapolate well to the nanoscale, where unique phenomena are frequently encountered. Thus, to capitalize on the promises from these new technologies, unique interdisciplinary graduate training is needed.

The purpose of this training program is to develop a new type of experienced interdisciplinary scientist in the field of nanobiology, combining the tools, ideas and materials of nanoscience with biology to enable new approaches to research problems and develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Conventional approaches from the molecular or macroscale level do not extrapolate well to the nanoscale, where unique phenomena frequently occur. This training grant addresses the need for unique interdisciplinary graduate training to better understand those phenomena.

Trainees from this program will be uniquely prepared to explore the interplay between current nanoscience applications in high technology and biotechnology, and biomedical applications for clinical and research medicine. They study the structure and function of such nanoscale biostructures as proteins, nucleic acids, signal-transducing membranes, virus particles, nanoshells, and supramolecular assemblies.

Trainees will be required to have mentors from two different disciplines among imaging / modeling / bionano materials and biology, with a 2-6 month mini-sabbatical period in the co-mentor’s laboratory, as an essential part of the multi-disciplinary training experience. Trainees will participate in a highly interdisciplinary curriculum, including courses on bionano materials and nanomedicine, as well as selected electives, to provide deep knowledge and also the connections between the disciplines. They will also participate in weekly seminars and journal club and will present their research at an annual retreat.

The Nanobiology Interdiscplinary Graduate Training Program will be managed through the W.M. Keck Center. Trainees may be enrolled at any of the following six Gulf Coast Consortia/Keck Center member universities participating in the program:     

• Rice University     
• Baylor College of Medicine     
• The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston     
• The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston,     
• The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and    
• The University of Houston.    

For more information, see the links below or to the right.

 Application information and forms
 Faculty Directory
 Curriculum