Training

Keck Center Training Programs

Message from the Director of the Keck Center

Since 1990 the Keck Center for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences has pioneered interdisciplinary bioscience training, combining the biological with the computational sciences to solve complex issues affecting human health that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. Our 35-year strong mentoring model of two faculty from complementary disciplines has accelerated creative and effective solutions to those problems. Keck Center training programs benefit from the collaboration among, and the vast complementary expertise and resources of, 8 Houston-Galveston-area institutions.

Training grant proposals funded 2001-2025 by the NIH, W.M. Keck Foundation, AHRQ, NSF, and CPRIT have collectively yielded over $68M in total direct costs. Over 50 PhD students and postdoctoral fellows are supported at any one time, and well over 1,000 former Keck Center PhD students and postdoctoral fellows are flourishing in academia, biotech, industry, and non-profits.

NIH funds our 6 training programs in antimicrobial resistance, biomedical informatics and data science, infectious diseases, interdisciplinary pharmacology, molecular biophysics, and precision environmental health; two programs are in their 34^th and 36^th years of funding. The state CPRIT agency funds our 7th training program in cancer therapeutics.

I invite you to learn about our training programs and the wonderful PhD students and postdocs whom the programs support.

Melissa Glueck, MS
Director of the Keck Center since 2015
glueck@rice.edu

The training arm of the Gulf Coast Consortia offers world-class opportunities for training, mentorship, and interaction with faculty leaders and others engaged in interdisciplinary bioscience research.

The Keck Center brings together computational, physical, mathematical, engineering, and biological scientists in a stimulating and nurturing environment for the development and training of a new type of scientist–one who can incorporate theory, simulation, and experiment to expand our understanding of modern biological problems. Pre- and Postdoctoral trainees are provided an intellectual environment for considering problems that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, as well as training opportunities with mentors in different disciplines.

Keck Seminar Information

35th Keck Annual Research Conference

Spatial Biology: Emerging Technologies, Computational Approaches, and Translational Applications

Spatial biology is a rapidly growing field that studies cells and molecules in their native environment in multiple dimensions. By studying cells and biomarkers in the tissue microenvironment, we gain new insight into drug responses, complex disease mechanisms, and personalized medicine. The conference and poster session will also highlight the outstanding research underway by predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees in the seven inter-institutional training programs administered by the GCC/Keck Center in the greater Houston area.

Confirmed speakers are:

Rong Fan, PhD, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Yale University
Miranda Orr, PhD, Associate Professor, Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine

The 2026 Keck Conference Co-Chairs are Li-av Segev Zarko, PhD, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston (UTMB), and Hong Zhao, MD, PhD, Houston Methodist Research Institute.

Location: Bioscience Research Collaborative, 6500 Main St., Houston. Friday, November 6, 2026.

Conference Website

Annual Research Conference Poster Session

Training Programs

Antimicrobial Resistance Training Program in the Texas Medical Center (AMR-TPT)

Training Program in Biomedical Informatics and Data Science (NLM)

Cancer Therapeutics Training Program (CTTP)

Houston Area Molecular Biophysics Training Program (HAMBP)

Training Interdisciplinary Pharmacology Scientists (TIPS)

Molecular Basis of Infectious Diseases (MBID)

Training in Precision Environmental Health Sciences (TPEHS)

Keck Seminar

Rigor and Reproducibility Resource Page

The 35th Keck Annual Research Conference was held on October 24, 2025. Theme: Advances in Epigenetics: From Mechanisms to Medicine. Previous conferences include:

34th Keck Annual Research Conference, October 25, 2024. Theme: Machine Learning and Computation in Structural Biology
33rd Keck Annual Research Conference, October 20, 2023. Theme: New Frontiers in RNA Biology and Therapeutics
32nd Keck Annual Research Conference, October 21, 2022. Theme: Structural Biology: Past, Present, and Future
31st Keck Annual Research Conference, October 22, 2021. Theme: Infectious Diseases: Emerging Threats and Emerging Technologies.
30th Keck Annual Research Conference, Oct. 29-30, 2020 (virtual). Theme: Keck Center 2020 and Beyond: A Science Odyssey.

Keck Seminar Series: 4:00 pm Fridays during the academic year
BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC), 6500 Main @ University, Rice University.
Trainees supported by the GCC are required to attend the seminars in person.

The Keck Seminar Series, begun in 1990, focuses on contemporary interdisciplinary science involving quantitative or computational, biomedical informatics and data science, bioinformatics, chemical, and/or physical approaches to biological and biomedical problems. The speakers, selected by a committee of GCC-supported trainees, are drawn from GCC institutions, and institutions nationwide. Everyone is welcome to attend. The Keck Seminar Series is also a 1-credit graduate course at Rice University, BIOC 592 “Topics in Quantitative Biology & Biomedical Informatics.”

Acknowledging Keck Center Support
Are you participating in a Keck Center training program? Don’t forget that Keck Center trainees are required to acknowledge their fellowship funding support on all publications and abstracts resulting from their fellowship project – regardless of publication date – as well as posters during their appointment period. You will find the grant number of your program on your appointment letter as well as on the web page of your training program.

Individual Development Plans (IDPs)
The GCC supports the NIH’s strong encouragement that every graduate student or postdoc supported by any NIH training grant, fellowship, or research grant have an Individual Development Plan (IDP) (NOT-OD-14-113) as a career development tool. Although institutions are responsible for implementation of and compliance with this notice for their trainees, the GCC monitors that our fellows have completed an IDP every year. One popular tool for creating an IDP is AAAS myIDP.