Rockefeller joins tri-institutional Ph.D. program in computational biology

Since 2003, the Tri-institutional Program in Computational Biology and Medicine (CBM), a graduate program bringing together faculty and resources from Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Memorial Sloan Kettering, has filled an important niche in the Upper East Side’s biomedical ecosystem. It has put a specific focus on recruiting and training exceptional students in computational disciplines.

Now, Rockefeller is joining the CBM program. Given the importance of data analysis to all fields of science, participation in the program is expected to provide access to a steady stream of talented students working in this cutting-edge discipline. It will also give students in the program the opportunity to conduct research in Rockefeller labs and will help foster new collaborations between experimentalists and experts in computational disciplines.

Students accepted into the program, which has its own admissions process, take courses in computational biology, mathematics, and biology, either at Weill Cornell or at Cornell University in Ithaca, and then join a lab from one of the participating institutions to embark on a thesis project. They work in areas such as cancer biology, genomics, systems biology, neuroscience, and structural biology.

“Advanced computation and mathematics play an increasingly central role in biomedical research. Virtually every laboratory at Rockefeller is producing and/or analyzing large and complex data sets. Students with talent and interest in these areas will find incredible science to pursue in our labs, and I know we will benefit enormously from their presence on campus,” says Richard P. Lifton, the university’s president.

Eleven Rockefeller heads of laboratory will become faculty in the CBM program.