Physics of Living Cells Summer School offers intensive training experience

The Center for the Physics of Living Cells (CPLC)--an NSF Physics Frontier Center based in the Department of Physics--recently completed its third annual session of the  ‘Physics of Living Cells Summer School’ held from July 18-23, 2011 on the Urbana campus.

Co-directed by physics professors, Taekjip Ha and Klaus Schulten, the CPLC brings together emerging technologies in experimental single-molecule and single-cell biophysics as well as computational and theoretical biology in order to create a quantitative picture of the living cell. The summer school is designed for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and researchers who seek to expand their skills in these fields and apply these technologies to their research.

“The CPLC Summer School was a fantastic experience to learn about innovative and current research ongoing at the interface between physics and the life sciences," remarked Steven Quinn from University of St. Andrews, Scotland. "I not only gained valuable new insights into single-molecule techniques, many of which will be applicable to my own research, but was able to discuss my own work and share ideas with my peers in such a prestigious biophysics department. The basic training in conjunction with the advanced module provides a solid basis for any single-molecule biophysicist looking to expand his/her own knowledge of the field.”

This year, 27 students attended the summer school, including 19 graduate students, seven post-doctoral fellows, and one professor (26% from international institutions and 26% of the U.S. students from universities in the Midwest). According to Jaya Yodh, CPLC director of education and outreach, student expertise spanned a broad range of disciplines including physics, biophysics, chemistry, biochemistry, bioengineering, and the life sciences, indicative of the highly interdisciplinary nature of CPLC research and technologies.

Nine participating faculty from UIUC departments of physics and chemistry as well as Baylor University College of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology offered four-day intensive training in eight advanced topics with an emphasis on integration of theory and computational biology with experimental systems. These included:

• Single-molecule FRET: (Taekjip Ha with theory integration by Zan Luthey-Schulten and Karin Dahmen);
• Single-molecule FIONA (Paul Selvin with theory integration by Klaus Schulten and Karin Dahmen);
• Single-molecule force and optical trapping: (Yann Chemla with theory integration by Alek Aksimentiev);
• Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy – STORM (Taekjip Ha),
• Single-event detection in living cells – bacterial swimming (Ido Golding and Yann Chemla) and phage infection (Ido Golding);
• Membrane dynamics in living fruit fly embryos (Anna Sokac), and
• Fast Relaxation Imaging: heat shock response in living cells (Martin Gruebele).

The advanced modules were complemented by faculty lectures and concluded with student presentations.

One of the key elements to the continued success of the summer school is the near 1:1 ratio of teaching assistants (TAs) to students. This year, a group of 26 TAs comprising Center graduate students and postdoctoral fellows were involved not only in teaching the specialized advanced modules, but also in development and teaching of introductory mini-courses on Optics, Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD), MATLAB and LabVIEW programming applications. 

Thus, the CPLC summer school provides a unique opportunity for hands-on training in state-of-the-art biophysical tools for the next generation of scientists as well as for the Center’s own trainees who gain valuable teaching experience as a result.  For example, one unique form of training for both TAs and students evolved as a result of TAs from different labs working directly together to integrate theory and experiment within an advanced module. The summer school also offered venues for scientific and social interactions such as a poster session for members of CPLC laboratories to share their research with visiting students. 

All in all, the CPLC summer school continues to lay a foundation for fostering and training a global network of young scientists interested in the physics of living systems. 
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Contact: Jaya Yodh, director of education and outreach, Center for the Physics of Living Cells, 217/244-1155.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.