Project Mentor
Dr. Eran Agmon
Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, Departments of Molecular Biology and Biophysics
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Description
| Project Description | For this summer project, the student will work on a computational model of bacterial interactions in the human gut microbiome. The student will write code to add new mechanistic details to the model, will simulate it, visualize the results, and evaluate the results by comparing with experimental data. The final model and results will be presented in a Python notebook and shared online for others to learn from. |
| Project Direction | We are a computational systems biology laboratory that specializes in multi-scale modeling of microbiomes – from their molecular underpinnings, to individual cellular functions, to multi-cell interactions in an environment. Microbiomes are a powerful layer of biological complexity that have co-evolved with our bodies and interact closely with our cells, and understanding their behavior could have implications for immune health, metabolism, and synthetic biology. Building these models requires us to develop new computational methods for combining multi-source and multi-level data with diverse models of biological mechanisms. |
| Mentorship and Supervision | We will have bi-weekly meetings to talk about the project’s progress and barriers to progress. The student will also meet other scientists involved in the project to learn about their work. The student will receive code-specific feedback through our GitHub project page, with suggestions about how to improve the code. |
| Student Qualifications |
The student must have a basic understanding of molecular and cellular biology, an interest in building complex mathematical models, and experience programming in Python.
|
| Summer Schedule Options | Monday-Friday 9am through 5pm |
| Project Continuation | Fall 2024, Spring 2025 |
| Academic Year Time Commitment | 6 hours/week – 9 hours/week |
| Possible Thesis Project | Yes |
Application
Submit an online application for this research opportunity at https://quest.uconn.edu/prog/HRP24-1. The application deadline is Monday, January 29, 2024.
This application requires a cover letter, resume or CV, Unofficial Transcript, GPA, Science GPA, Statement of Qualifications, Statement of Research Interests, and Statement of Career Interests. References should be available upon request.