REU Site: Genomics and Computational biology

This REU Site award to the University of Georgia located in Athens, GA, will support the training of 13 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2023- 2025. It is anticipated that a total of 39 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities or are from an under-represented group, will be trained in the program. The program is run in partnership with Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU located in Atlanta, GA. The program has been in existence for 22 years and has trained over 200 REU participants who have contributed to fundamental discoveries about telomerase, gene regulation, the biological clock, and the biochemistry of red tides. All REU participants are expected to present their research at national meetings, and about 15% are expected to publish their research findings in peer-reviewed journals. Assessment of the program will be done through the online SALG URSSA tool used by all BIO REU sites. Students will be required to register their participation in the NSF ETAP system (etap.nsf.gov) and tracked after the program in order to determine their career paths. The scientific focus of this program is on genomics, computational biology, systems biology, metabolomics, proteomics, and glycomics. Faculty mentors come from various departments and centers, including Genetics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Physics and Astronomy, Plant Biology, Plant Pathology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, Microbiology, and Communication. Applications are done online at http://www.genetics.uga.edu/FGCB. Students from groups under-represented in STEM and those from schools with limited research opportunities are especially encouraged to apply. In addition to developing a research project over 10 weeks, students participate in bioethics and communication training, seminars, and workshops hosted by seven other interlocking REU sites on the UGA campus. Past research projects on this REU site have included the study of the biological clock, telomerase, adaptive immunity through CRISPR/CAS systems, novel algorithms for network reconstruction, identification of network motifs, and constructing large scale database tools in systems biology. More information about the program is available at http://www.genetics.uga.edu/FGCB, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Jonathan Arnold at arnold@uga.edu) or the co-PI (Dr. Sharifeh Mehrabi at smehrabi@cau.edu). 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.