RCN: Finding Your Inner Modeler - an interdisciplinary community solving problems in systems biology

RCN：寻找你的内在建模者 - 一个解决系统生物学问题的跨学科社区

• 批准号: 2003415
• 负责人: David Stone
• 金额: $ 74.05万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2003415&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; Finding; Your; Inner; Modeler

The project seeks to develop a community of cell biologists working across disciplines to solve complex biological problems using computational approaches. It builds on the success of the three “Finding Your Inner Modeler” (FYIM) workshops that took place in the summers of 2017-2019. These events introduced computational modeling to traditional cell biologists and promoted interdisciplinary collaborations in systems biology. This RCN project will serve a broader community by promoting collaborations between cell biologists interested in using computational methods in their research with physicists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists who wish to apply their computational skills to biological problems. Thus, the project will benefit two distinct groups: cell biologists who wish to apply quantitative and modeling tools to their research, and experts in other STEM disciplines who wish to advance the study of important biological questions using their computational skills. Three annual meetings will serve as incubators for interdisciplinary interactions, facilitating crosspollination and leading to synergistic collaborations that advance systems biology. A virtual venue will be developed that will allow remote online participants to interact directly with participants at the in-person meetings, thereby removing most geographical barriers. Standardizing the schedule, locations, and structure of the annual FYIM meetings is expected to encourage a sense of community; an associated FYIM website will provide this community with an online home and communications hub. A 10-person Steering Committee whose members cover a broad range of scientific specialties and geographic locations will work with the PI and two co-PIs to ensure well-attended, high-energy meetings, and utilization of the website. The Broader Impacts of this work involve the training of a diverse group of participants at all academic levels. The central premise of this project is that computational modeling is required to extract the principles underlying cell processes and structures from what are increasingly large and complex datasets. Emergent properties simply cannot be understood by examining one variable at a time. Yet, many cell biologists lack the expertise to take advantage of computational approaches, while expert modelers in other fields who are interested in working on biological problems lack the opportunities to do so. The three annual FYIM meetings will provide traditional cell biologists with insights into the utility of computational modeling, guidance in how to get started, and the chance to interact with interested modelers from a broad range of disciplines. Unlike most field-specific meetings, the events will bring together scientists and engineers with diverse backgrounds and expertise, thereby promoting productive interdisciplinary collaborations. The ongoing development of the FYIM website will continue during the project period with the goal of creating an active online meeting place and information nexus for the systems biology community at large; in addition to providing a home for meeting registration and information, the website will serve as a prototype for web-based interactive communities. Such communities may become important hubs of scientific communication and attractive alternatives to distant travel within the next decade. Advertising for the meetings and website will target a diverse group of potential participants with respect to their career stage, type and location of home institution, gender, and ethnicity. The diversity of participants is important to achieving the ultimate aim, which is to promote the development of quantitative and computational cell biology into a widely used and high-impact discipline, on par with other interdisciplinary fields such as bioinformatics and genomics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在建立一个跨学科的细胞生物学家社区，利用计算方法解决复杂的生物学问题，它建立在 2017 年至 2019 年夏季举办的三届“寻找你的内在建模者”(FYIM) 研讨会的成功基础上。这些活动向传统细胞生物学家介绍了计算模型，并促进了系统生物学的跨学科合作，该 RCN 项目将通过促进有兴趣在研究中使用计算方法的细胞生物学家之间的合作来服务更广泛的社区。希望将计算技能应用于生物问题的物理学家、化学家、工程师、数学家和计算机科学家因此，该项目将使两个不同的群体受益：希望将定量和建模工具应用于其研究的细胞生物学家和其他领域的专家。希望利用计算技能推进重要生物学问题研究的 STEM 学科将作为跨学科互动的孵化器，促进异花授粉并促进协同合作，从而推动系统生物学的发展。将允许远程在线参与者直接与现场会议的参与者进行互动，从而消除 FYIM 年度会议的大部分地理障碍，预计将增强社区意识；为这个社区提供一个在线家庭和通信中心，一个由 10 人组成的指导委员会，其成员涵盖广泛的科学专业和地理位置，将与 PI 和两名联合 PI 合作，以确保出席人数众多、充满活力的会议，和网站的使用。这项工作的更广泛影响涉及对各个学术级别的不同参与者进行培训，该项目的核心前提是需要计算建模来从日益庞大和复杂的数据集中提取细胞过程和结构的原理。然而，许多细胞生物学家缺乏利用计算方法的专业知识，而对解决生物学问题感兴趣的其他领域的专家建模者则缺乏这样做的机会。三届年度 FYIM 会议将提供传统的细胞生物学家可以深入了解计算建模的实用性、如何开始使用的指导，以及与来自广泛学科的感兴趣的建模者互动的机会，与大多数特定领域的会议不同，这些活动将汇集不同学科的科学家和工程师。背景和专业知识，从而促进富有成效的跨学科合作，在项目期间将继续进行，其目标是除了提供一个家之外，还为整个系统生物学界创建一个活跃的在线会议场所和信息联系；如需会议注册和信息，请访问网站将作为基于网络的互动社区的原型。在未来十年内，此类社区可能会成为重要的科学交流中心和远程旅行的有吸引力的替代方案。会议和网站的广告将针对不同的潜在参与者群体。职业阶段、所在机构的类型和地点、性别和种族参与者的多样性对于实现最终目标非常重要，即促进定量和计算细胞生物学发展成为广泛使用和高影响力的学科。与生物信息学等其他跨学科领域相媲美该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。