Executive Summary

The International Max Planck Research School for Computational Biology and Scientific Computing (IMPRS-CBSC) introduces students to research in the interdisciplinary field at the interface of molecular biology, genetics, and genomics on the one hand, and the mathematical and computational sciences on the other hand. The IMPRS-CBSC has been extended to China by incorporating the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology (PICB) in 2010

Overview

The IMPRS-CBSC builds on the extraordinary concentration of researchers working at the interface of life sciences and mathematical/computational sciences at the Dahlem Campus of Max Planck Institutes and Free University. The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPIMG) comprises the Computational Molecular Biology Department as well as a number of other groups engaged in computational biology or systems biology. Not far away are the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of Freie Universität (FU) as well as the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), a research institute for applied mathematics and computer science. Faculty members of these three institutions collaborate closely and are jointly contributing to a Masters curriculum in Bioinformatics and to a Masters curriculum in Scientific Computing. With this as a basis, FU and MPIMG have together built up the IMPRS for Computational Biology and Scientific Computing.

The goal of the IMPRS-CBSC has been to educate students at this difficult-to-master interface between life sciences and computational sciences. Today, many very active areas of research require this dual expertise. Genome analysis requires both algorithmic and statistical methods. Protein structure research and computational systems biology depend heavily on dynamical simulation, numerical analysis, and stochastics. The IMPRS faculty members represent algorithmic bioinformatics, statistical bioinformatics, dynamical systems, systems biology, comparative and functional genomics, and molecular evolution. With the breadth of courses and seminars offered, among others by IMPRS faculty members, students are supplied with the necessary background and get exposed to an active research environment at the interface of life sciences and mathematical/computational sciences.

PICB currently hosts around 12 research groups working in the areas of population genetics, human genetics, comparative and functional genomics, computational systems biology. Imaging and visualization, and protein structure analysis. Taking PICB on board would thus significantly enhance the spectrum of research topics to which IMPRS students get exposed as well as open up new ways of exchanging and educating students.

Detailed description of mode of cooperation with CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai

The educational system at PICB is ideal for combination with the IMPRS system. On top of the life science courses offered to all students, prospective bioinformatics PhD students take special courses at PICB. These comprise mathematics, statistics, algorithms, and bioinformatics basics as well as specialized subjects from bioinformatics, which are all fit into the first two years of the curriculum. Since the number of students is much higher at PICB than at the Berlin IMPRS, PICB has pledged to select, based on performance in the qualifying exam, around nine outstanding students per year for inclusion in the joint PICB-IMPRS program.

Student exchange program It has been very fruitful for students to include during their PhD studies a period of research, typically up to 3 months, at another lab. At the Berlin IMPRS this has been practiced with great success since its inception. With the addition of PICB, certainly PICB itself will be another option for the Berlin students where to spend this research stay. On the other hand, within the extended IMPRS, PICB students shall be given the opportunity to spend time at a partnering lab in Germany. Naturally, MPI and FU Berlin are offering to host PICB students.

Joint organization of Summer Schools As pointed out above, all IMPRS students both from Berlin and from Shanghai shall get together annually for the Otto Warburg Summer School, which be held one summer in Berlin and the other summer in Shanghai. The format shall remain the same as in the past.