Faculty Sabbaticals

The CDP Center hosts an expense-paid sabbatical program for faculty who work at institutions serving underrepresented minority students or who are underrepresented minorities themselves. Two sabbatical positions are held in CDP-affiliated research groups in Harvard Medical School's Department of Systems Biology and MIT's Schools of Science, Engineering and Management. Funds are provided to cover salaries, research expenses and moving costs.

The goals of this program are to:

1. introduce faculty from community colleges and minority-serving institutions to the emerging field of systems biology;
2. facilitate the introduction of new course materials in this area at the visitors' home institutions, and
3. develop research collaborations between visiting faculty and CDP investigators to help jump-start independent research programs at the visitor's home institutions.

To date, two faculty members have participated in the program. Faculty are identified and selected based on their interest in systems biology education and/or research, and recommendations from their home institution.

Professor Carlos Ríos Velázquez, the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez: Dr. Velázquez' research interests are in microbial biotechnology and bioprospecting, development of biosensors for toxins and toxin-producing microbes, and the use of functional genomics and combinatorial chemistry in detection of anti-microbial agents. He and two of his UPRM students spent three months at MIT during the summer of 2005. Working with Dr. Rebecca Fry, Director of the BioMicro Center and Prof. Leona Samson, Director of MIT's Center for Environmental Health Sciences, they took a systems biology approach to the study of cellular responses to DNA damage. Environmental disturbances such as exposure to toxic agents or UV can cause DNA damage, activating genetic cascades with physiological consequences effecting recovery or survival. Transcriptional profiling, genomic phenotyping, interactome mapping and sub-cellular localization have been employed to understand specific cells’ responses, but information on whole-cell modulation in response to stimuli is still needed. The team developed a high-throughput system using a whole Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome GFP fusion library to analyze the global proteome dynamics after addition of the DNA damaging agent Methyl Methane Sulfonate (MMS).

Professor Elba Serrano, New Mexico State University: At NMSU, Dr. Serrano's lab studies the development of the nervous system, with an emphasis on the sensory systems responsible for hearing and balance. Her research employs a broad range of methods, including molecular biology, anatomy, genetics, informatics, biophotonics, tissue culture, bioimaging, and electrophysiology. Since her arrival in September of 2005, Dr. Serrano has been interacting with several CDP and CSBi investigators, planning research projects for her 9-month stay. Several of her NMSU students will come for shorter periods and participate in this research.