A secondary aim of the Northwest Genome Engineering Consortium is to promote the development of genome engineering as a scientific discipline. To assist in meeting this goal, the NGEC is sponsoring two opportunities: an Interdisciplinary Training in Genome Engineering postdoctoral fellowship program and an annual Workshop on Genome Engineering.
Interdisciplinary Training in Genome Engineering Program
Because of the highly interdisciplinary nature of genome engineering, individuals interested in pursuing careers using genome engineering methods, concepts and tools require training that spans two, and perhaps more, of the disciplines represented within the NGEC. Analogously, continuity of the proposed work and synergy within the NGEC would be facilitated by the involvement of individuals who have training in more than one of the disciplines represented within the NGEC. Therefore, the NGEC is sponsoring the Interdisciplinary Training in Genome Engineering program to support postdoctoral fellows who undertake interdisciplinary projects in genome engineering–related fields.
Selected individuals will carry out projects spanning two or more disciplines with co-mentoring by two principal investigators with complementary expertise. Projects are not required to utilize homing endonucleases or further NGEC research goals. Fellows will be chosen on the basis of the interdisciplinary nature of their project; its relationship to genome engineering; the degree of scientific innovation, potential impact, and likelihood of a productive outcome of the project; as well as the quality and appropriateness of the training experience for career development of the trainee. The period of training will be up to two years, and training will involve active research and associated laboratory meetings, NGEC group meetings, presentation of their data at the annual Workshop for Genome Engineering and travel to an outside meeting each year. Trainees will be employees of and receive benefits from Seattle Children's.
Options are also provided for additional interdisciplinary experiences, including didactic coursework, a biotechnology externship, the many interdisciplinary symposia and workshops which take place among NGEC institutions and graduate level teaching. The program includes both NRSA grants for U.S. citizens, nationals and permanent residents and Non-NRSA grants for foreign citizens. Two positions are available each year of the grant.
Application acceptance is ongoing; please contact Andre Durudas for the latest status if you are interested in applying. Detailed application instructions can be found in the Application Instructions document below. Senior graduate students and recent PhD recipients who have positions lined up that have not yet started are welcome and encouraged to apply.
Please direct questions to Andre Durudas, NGEC Project Coordinator.
Workshop on Genome Engineering
The NGEC supports an annual one-day Workshop on Genome Engineering. The goals of this workshop are threefold:
- Provide the opportunity for the NGEC to hear about genome engineering-related work being carried out by outside investigators
- Provide the opportunity for NGEC labs to present genome engineering-related work carried on within the NGEC over the previous year
- Provide an exposure to genome engineering concepts, methods, and applications to participants, both local and geographically distant.
The workshops feature keynote addresses by two prominent outside investigators working in the general field of genome engineering, research talks from both NGEC lab members and other attendees and a poster session. With funding for ten travel awards, the Workshops bring new ideas into the NGEC from all over the United States and world. Similarly, they will help to disseminate the concepts, methods and tools developed by the NGEC to outside investigators.
The next Workshop on Genome Engineering is being planned for November 2010 in Seattle. More information will be made available on our Workshop Web site. Questions should be directed to Andre Durudas, NGEC project coordinator.