University of Pennsylvania Training Program in
Computational Biology
The University of Pennsylvania has established an
interdisciplinary training program
for PhD students and
postdoctoral researchers in computational
biology. Areas of interest include
biological databases, multiple sequence alignment,
molecular evolution and phylogeny construction,
physical and genetic mapping, sequence search
and analysis, statistical methods, discrete algorithms
and combinatorial optimization in biology.
The research training program provides core training
in molecular biology and genetics, discrete algorithms,
mathematical modelling, and probability and statistics,
so that important biological problems can be addressed
effectively through a collaborative effort between
researchers in these different fields.
Advanced training draws on the expertise of the faculty, and
includes both advanced seminars and laboratory research
opportunities.
Participating faculty include the following:
Peter Buneman (Computer and Information Science):
Programming languages: applicative
and functional languages, type systems.
Fan Chung (Mathematics):
Combinatorics and algorithms.
Susan Davidson (Computer and Information Science):
Real-time database systems: language
support and formal methods for distributed real-time programs.
Arthur Dunham (Biology): Mathematical models at the interface
of physiological ecology and population dynamics.
Joe Ecker (Biology):
Biochemical mechanisms involved in plant hormone signalling;
genome mapping.
Warren Ewens (Biology):
Mathematical population genetics.
Ellis Golub (Biochemistry, Dental School):
The relationship between protein sequence, structure and
function.
Greg Guild (Biology):
Sequential activation of ecdysone-regulated genes in
Drosophila development; mechanisms of
transcriptional regulation.
Aravind Joshi (Computer and Information Science):
Problems that overlap computer science and linguistics.
Sampath Kannan (Computer and Information Science):
algorithms in computational biology, complexity theory,
randomization and computation.
Haig Kazazian (Genetics):
The analysis of mutational mechanisms in humans.
Steve Liebhaber (Genetics):
DNA structure-function relationships.
Mitch Marcus (Computer and Information Science):
Natural language processing.
Max Mintz (Computer and Information Science):
Decision making under uncertainty.
Chris Overton (Genetics):
Genome informatics and biological databases.
Peter Petraitis (Biology):
Community ecology of marine ecosystems:
theoretical ecology.
David Roos (Biology):
Molecular genetics and cell biology of protozoan parasites; Host-pathogen
interactions; Eukaryotic evolution
David Searls (Genetics):
Linguistics of biological sequences; genome informatics.
Neil Shubin (Biology):
Evolution of developmental patterns; origins of the vertebrate limb;
Comparative molecular and paleontological phylogenies
Eero Simoncelli (Computer and Information Science):
Representation and analysis of visual imagery:
distributed parallel representation and computation.
Rich Spielman (Genetics):
Genetics of susceptibility to complex human diseases.
Chris Stoeckert (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia):
Understanding the regulation of fetal and adult globin genes in human
adults.
Santosh Venkatesh (Electrical Engineering):
computational learning theory.
Tandy Warnow (Computer and Information Science):
combinatorial and graph-theoretic algorithms for
evolutionary tree construction.
All applicants (predoctoral and postdoctoral) to this interdisciplinary
program should contact:
Dr. Warren Ewens, Principle Investigator
Computational Biology Training Program
Department of Biology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
compbio at central.cis.upenn.edu
Admission to the predoctoral program requires acceptance
into a regular PhD program at the University
of Pennsylvania. For application materials
contact one of the following:
Graduate Admissions
Department of Computer and Information Science
200 S. 33rd Street
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104.
Graduate Admissions
Department of Biology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Biomedical Graduate Studies (Molecular Genetics)
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
