Southern California Bioinformatics Summer Institute ( SoCalBSI )
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Program Overview SoCalBSI provides an opportunity for exceptionally talented students to participate in an extensive education program consisting of courses bridging molecular life sciences and computer science to achieve a common goal. Students will attend courses taught by core faculty from California State University, Los Angeles, have a unique opportunity to work with leading scientists and subsequently apply their knowledge towards a mentored state-of-the-art research project of their choice. Program Goal Our goal is to offer a comprehensive research and learning experience for participating students interested in pursuing a career in Bioinformatics. What Is Bioinformatics? Bioinformatics is the field of science in which biology, computer science, and information technology merge to form a single discipline. Bioinformatics is the study of the application of computer and statistical techniques to the management of biological information. In genome projects, bioinformatics includes the development of methods to search databases quickly, to analyze DNA sequence information, and to predict protein sequence and structure from DNA sequence data. The ultimate goal of the field is to enable the discovery of new biological insights as well as to create a global perspective from which unifying principles in biology can be discerned. At the beginning of the "genomic revolution," a Bioinformatics concern was the creation and maintenance of a database to store biological information, such as nucleotide and amino acid sequences. Development of this type of database involved not only design issues, but the development of complex interfaces whereby researchers could both access existing data as well as submit new or revised data. Computational biology, genomics and systems biology fall within the bioinformatics umbrella. Ultimately, however, all of this information must be combined to form a comprehensive picture of normal cellular activities so that researchers may study how these activities are altered in different disease states. Therefore, the field of bioinformatics has evolved such that the most pressing task now involves the analysis and interpretation of various types of data, including nucleotide and amino acid sequences, protein domains, and protein structures. The actual process of analyzing and interpreting data is referred to as computational biology. Important sub-disciplines within bioinformatics and computational biology include: 1. The development and implementation of tools that enable efficient access to, and use and management of, various types of information; and 2. The development of new algorithms (mathematical formulas) and statistics with which to assess relationships among members of large data sets, such as methods to locate a gene within a sequence, predict protein structure and/or function. Eligibility Applicants must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S Permanent Resident. Students with strong quantitative science backgrounds, including the life sciences, physical sciences, computer science, mathematics or engineering are encouraged to apply. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Students must currently be enrolled in courses to apply. The minimum requirement is an undergraduate student of sophomore standing or a student at a community college in the process of transferring to a four-year program. Students up to their second year of graduate school are eligible to apply. Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA in math, engineering, and science courses. Students must enrolled in ONE of the two options below: 1. Students must be majoring in a molecular life science-related field and have completed one C++ or object-oriented programming course. OR 2. Students must be majoring in a computer science-related field and have completed one molecular life science course. Stipends For completing the program, each student will receive a stipend payment. $6,000.00 - Undergraduate Students Student Feedback Feedback from a previous SoCalBSI student participants: "I felt the whole program was outstanding, faculty and the fellow students included. I joined because I wanted some sort of confirmation that my path toward academia was the right one. It really solidified my goals. The comradery of the students and also the way the faculty was so supportive. I know graduate school will be different, but it certainly made me realize that once I get through it I'll be happy with where I am." -Cory Tobin "I am writing to thank [the SoCalBSI faculty] for a great summer experience and for all the help and guidance you provided. Last week we had our annual Undergraduate Research Poster Conference at Earlham and I presented a poster on my experience this summer. It went over very well and a few professors are now interested in doing an independent research project with me next semester. Hopefully things will work out and I'll get to do another bioinformatics project this year. Anyway, I just wanted to share that and thank you once again for all your hard work this summer." -Kathryn Iverson | 2008 Application Deadline March 03, 2008 All applications and documents must be received by the deadline. 2008 Program Dates June 16, 2008 to August 21, 2008 SoCalBSI is a 10 week training/internship program: The first three weeks of the program is a series of didactic training in a state-of-the-art computer classroom at California State University, Los Angeles. The following seven weeks consist of research training at one of the available research institutes. The assigning process of students and their internship sites are based upon the preference of the students' desire to intern at a particular institution, as well as the the mentors' preference to host particular students. Internship Institutions SoCalBSI Programs Questions? Please feel free to contact us. We'd love to hear form you. |