# Training in Multi-scale Analysis of Biological Structure and Function

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2024 · $319,152

## Abstract

Project Summary
This is a renewal of an NIBIB Graduate Training Program in Multi-Scale Analysis of Biological Structure
and Function at the University of California San Diego. Its goal is to train a new cadre of scientists who can
cross disciplinary boundaries to solve important biomedical problems that span scales of biological
organization from molecule to organism. Pre-doctoral trainees are drawn exclusively from a formal
Interdisciplinary Ph.D. specialization in Multi-Scale Biology (the “Interfaces Graduate Training Program”),
which includes students from 9 highly ranked participating home Ph.D. programs (Bioengineering, Biological
Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
Neurosciences, Materials Science & Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Nanoengineering). Students
apply at the end of their first year of graduate studies. This T32 program brings together 39 interdisciplinary
training faculty from 14 departments. Since its inception, 48 predoctoral trainees on this T32 have graduated,
including 8 from Biological Sciences, 20 from Engineering departments, 8 from Health Sciences and 12 from
the Physical Sciences. In the four years of the current renewal has supported 18 trainees from the Health
Sciences (11%), Engineering (64%), and Physical Sciences (25%). In the current renewal URM trainees have
increased to 39% from 29% at the last renewal.
 A central feature of the training curriculum is seven hands-on graduate laboratory courses that
introduce students to advanced techniques for measuring and analyzing living systems at scales of biological
organization spanning from molecule to whole organism. Students use state-of-the-art facilities and
technologies from mass spectrometry to live cell microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging. Computational
labs cover multiscale modeling, neurodynamics and data sciences. The scientific focus on multi-scale analysis
of biological structure and function reflects a fundamental challenge of modern biomedical science in
developing and applying novel quantitative approaches from the physical, engineering, biological and health
sciences to integrative problems in biomedicine. Regular program activities, including bi-weekly graduate
seminars, annual symposia and retreats, course open houses and quarterly program meetings, promote
interactions between students and faculty from different disciplines. The dual-mentored training program is
successful in promoting new interdisciplinary collaborations in important areas including developmental biology,
neuroscience and cancer, cardiovascular disease, diagnostics and drug discovery. This renewal application
proposes to continue to train the most diverse student body to be effective leaders in structurally integrated
multi-scale analysis of biological function. It will include formal instruction in Rigor and Reproducibility, create
an expanded Alumni Mentor Network for trainees and a structured co-mentored inte...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10849180
- **Project number:** 2T32EB009380-16
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Andrew D. McCulloch
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $319,152
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2009-07-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10849180

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10849180, Training in Multi-scale Analysis of Biological Structure and Function (2T32EB009380-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10849180. Licensed CC0.

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