Computational Cancer Biology Training Program (CCBTP)

The complex interplay among often disparate clinical, laboratory, and computational science applications impacting cancer medicine and biology demands innovative and interdisciplinary methods of cancer research. Cancer biologists and clinicians must collaborate with leading researchers in mathematics,computational science and engineering to more effectively study cancer and develop cutting edge tools that will lead to creative solutions.

This postdoctoral training program in Computational Cancer Biology (CCBTP) brings together principles of computational and physical science with basic and clinical cancer biology to develop an emerging generation of computational cancer biologists with a unified computational/quantitative outlook on the problems presented in fundamental cancer research. Our goal is to increase the number of skilled, multidisciplinary cancer researchers in Texas who are uniquely able to integrate the tools, ideas, and materials of computational science and biology.

CCBTP training and activities are weighted towards cancer-driven bioscience as opposed to purely clinical medicine.

Postdoctoral fellows are required to:

• Have dual faculty mentors from both cancer biology and computational areas; both mentors must be members of the CCBTP Training Faculty at the time of the application (or have applied to join the training faculty before the application due date and have been provisionally approved);
• Complete a 2-4 month mini-sabbatical or internship in the secondary mentor’s laboratory;
• Mentor a summer undergraduate intern during a 10-week program;
• Complete an approved Responsible Conduct of Research course as a postdoc, a grantsmanship workshop, professional and career development workshops including mentoring, an annual Independent Development Plan (IDP),  and any coursework assigned to strengthen skills in areas in which the postdoc was not previously trained;
• Attend and present at required seminars, symposia, and journal clubs; attend and present at our own CCBTP annual trainee conference (if chosen), Keck Annual Research Conference, the CPRIT biennial conference, and a national conference of comparable scope to an American Chemical Society national meeting.

Postdoctoral fellows receive:

• 12 month fellowship, with the opportunity to compete for re-appointment for a second year, if progress is satisfactory;
• NIH-level postdoc stipend of $50,004 or higher (depending on the years of science-related experience since receipt of the doctoral-level degree);
• partial support for fringe benefits and/or for out of pocket expenses for trainee’s own health insurance; and
• travel funds for pre-approved travel.

Note: the primary mentor or mentor’s department is responsible for the remainder of the fringe benefits, and stipend supplementation to reach the postdoc’s current pay level (if applicable; this may be paid from any funds, including federal).

We welcome applications from all qualified trainees, regardless of ethnicity, race, or disability status. All GCC member institutions are ADAAA compliant and have offices of disability support services that provide accommodations and support services to trainees, faculty, staff, and visitors.

For any questions not answered by the information on this web page, please contact administrator of the CCB Training Program, Melissa Glueck at glueck@rice.edu.

FACULTY ELIGIBILITY

Both mentors must be tenure-track faculty, and either members of the CCBTP training faculty at the time of the application, or have requested joining the faculty and been provisionally approved as potential faculty prior to their trainee’s application. Please note that membership in the Gulf Coast Consortia or in one of its other training programs does not automatically confer membership in the CCBTP program. Details about how to request joining the CCBTP faculty are below.

Primary mentors are usually expected to have prior training experience, e.g. having previously been a primary or secondary mentor in a training program. Faculty may only be a primary mentor for one CCBTP fellow at a time. If a faculty mentor is already a primary mentor to a current CCBTP trainee, s/he may sponsor a new applicant (as primary mentor) shortly before the current trainee’s appointment will end, so that the two trainees’ appointments will not overlap.

Junior faculty who have secured external funding but have only a limited training record may be considered as secondary mentors initially, with a required commitment to participate in our half-day mentor training workshop.

Requests to join the CCBTP training faculty:
Faculty interested in sponsoring a candidate in the upcoming round should apply to join the training faculty two weeks before the application due date. Requests to join the faculty are considered only when they are sponsoring a candidate in the current call for applications.

Please contact the CCBTP Steering Committee member from your institution (see separate CCBTP Steering Committee section), as a member must nominate you. Email the Committee member the following items, and copy Melissa Glueck at glueck@rice.edu no later than two weeks before the application due date:

• a current 5-page NIH Biosketch (in Word format) including peer-reviewed funding; faculty are expected to be PI on an NIH R01 grant or equivalent peer-reviewed federal funding, and to have a training history;
• a few sentences about how the faculty’s research interests relate to the goals of the CCBTP;
• whether you wish to sponsor a postdoctoral candidate as primary/secondary mentor; and the name and institution of the proposed co-mentor.

This will be forwarded to the Program Director for consideration. The faculty member will be reviewed and notified of preliminary approval to join prior to the application due date.

Should his/her applicant be appointed to a CCBTP postdoctoral fellowship, only then the faculty member will be added to the CCBTP training faculty. If his/her applicant is not appointed, then the faculty member will not be added to the training faculty at that time.

APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY: Applicants:

• May be US or Dual Citizens, Permanent Residents who have already received their Green Card, or Foreign Nationals with a current visa that allows them to work as a postdoc;
• Must already have their doctoral degree by the application due date; those who have completed the requirement for their PhD but will be awarded it at a later date must supply a letter from their institutional verifying this;
• Must be employed by one of the 8 participating institutions (BCM, Rice, UH, UTHealth, MDACC, UTMB, IBT-TAMHSC, and Methodist);
• Must be employed in the lab of their primary mentor on this application (not in another lab), or have a job offer in hand and be in a position to start the job soon after the interview;
• Must live and conduct their research in Texas during the training.

The Gulf Coast Consortia is committed to providing equal opportunity in training for individuals with disabilities and individuals from racial and ethnic groups who are currently under-represented in STEM fields. We welcome applications from all qualified trainees, regardless of ethnicity, race, or disability status. All GCC member institutions are ADAAA compliant and have offices of disability support services that provide accommodations and support services to trainees, faculty, staff, and visitors.

REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS
All materials are due by the application due date, including letters of recommendation and transcripts.

From mentors:

Requests to join the CCBTP faculty, if one is not already (see Faculty Eligibility above for details), are due two weeks before the application due date.

Online Mentor Recommendation form: one form from the primary mentor AND and one from the co-mentor/secondary mentor. Mentors are to individually email the completed form directly to glueck@rice.edu (link to forms).

From trainee/applicant:
Prior to applying, all trainee applicants must contact the Steering Committee member from the applicant’s institution (see list on the website), to ensure that the proposed project is relevant to this training program.

• Online Trainee Fellowship Application (link to forms) – please ensure that your mentoring plan clearly describes how the two mentors will collaborate to give the trainee training in both of their disciplines, and what skills or techniques the trainee will learn from each
• 2 Letters of Recommendation from people other than your mentors. They should email the letters directly to glueck@rice.edu. The letters do not have to be on letterhead, but must include title, institution, and contact information for the person writing the recommendation.
• Current resume or Biosketch (in Word or PDF format) outlining your academic history and professional work experience: email to glueck@rice.edu.
• Current Proof of US Citizenship (birth certificate or passport), Permanent Residency (Green Card), or work visa for the United States: email a PDF scan to glueck@rice.edu. You must already have a current work visa to be eligible to apply.
• Transcripts: official copies preferred, but unofficial copies accepted. If the transcript is in a foreign language, you must submit an English translation. Email glueck@rice.edu the following as PDFs:
  • Undergraduate transcripts from all institutions you attended
  • PhD or MD course transcript: A transcript should include a list of courses taken and the grades/marks received. If the date you received this diploma is not on the transcript, supply a PDF scan (not photo) of your PhD diploma with the date on it. This is used to verify the stipend level you will receive.

Interviews:

Selected candidates will be invited to an interview on one day, which both mentors are expected to attend. Here is the format:

Candidates will make a brief oral presentation (maximum 8 minutes, maximum 6 PowerPoint slides plus title slide; do not include movies), then answer questions from the committee. If the committee interrupts the presenter to ask a question for clarity, then the “clock” will stop while it is being answered; you will always have 8 minutes.

Your presentation should provide an overview of your proposed research project, focusing on the first year. It should address the following:

1. the interdisciplinary nature of the project and approached you propose to use, emphasizing quantitative aspects;
2. features of the project that you consider particularly novel and/or innovative; and
3. the importance of your project to the broad area of computational science and cancer biology This need not be lengthy or highly detailed but it should be explicit. Often this is obvious to you and others in your specific area, but it may not be clear to the diverse, interdisciplinary Steering Committee that is reviewing you.

Your presentation should also outline the mentoring plan, and explicitly describe the roles that both your primary mentor and co-mentor will play in the plan as well as the proposed research. In particular, the committee is interested in hearing how the two mentors together enable you to conduct research that could not be accomplished with either alone. You may also comment on how this fellowship would enhance your training and career development.

We will provide the laptop for the presentation. Candidates should email a PDF of their presentations to glueck@rice.edu by 5:00 p.m. the day before the interview, and bring a backup on a USB drive in a PC compatible format.