The University of Virginia has been the recipient of a Molecular Biophysics Training Grant from the National Institutes of Health since 1989. The training program is designed to prepare selected predoctoral students, who possess unusual ability and motivation, to become molecular biophysical scientists. Its organization is based on the broader and larger degree-granting Interdisciplinary Biophysics Program founded over 25 years ago. In addition, participants are expected to have demonstrated as undergraduates a high level of competence in mathematics and the physical sciences. Each student is assigned an individualized Advisory Committee.
Laboratory rotations are a part of each student's curriculum.
The Molecular Biophysics Training Program Director has the primary responsibility for all administrative aspects of the Program. He is assisted in the formulation of policy, generation of program activities such as seminars and symposia, and the screening and selection of student applicants, by a 4-person Executive Committee, drawn from the participating faculty. Routine administrative activities are handled by the Office for Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies in the School of Medicine. During the 6-year period since the NIH started to support it, the Molecular Biophysics Training Program at U.Va. has been an important tool in recruiting excellent students and faculty. It has served as a focal point for the continued development of Molecular Biophysics at the University of Virginia.