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The Center for Systems Biology was launched in 2003. The main emphasis of the Center is to foster high-level research in Systems Biology, a new and exciting area of highly interdisciplinary scientific investigation based on intensive collaboration between biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists. To understand life at the system level, it is necessary to study biology on all scales, ranging from the molecular, via the cellular, all the way to the multicellular organism.
The research goals supported by the Center are:
- to elucidate the design principles of biological networks
- to create new experimental and computational technologies
- to apply these techniques to the study of cancer and other diseases
- to devise new methods for modeling network-based biological activity
To help reach these goals, the Center supports the purchase of scientific equipment, awards research grants, post-doctoral and student research fellowships, organizes and sponsors symposia and meetings, supports student participation in conferences abroad and maintains a visitors program aimed at attracting high level researchers to the Weizmann Institute for short as well as long periods.
Research Grants
The Center provided support for research carried out in the labs of Professors I. Cohen (2004-5), N. Dekel, M. Neeman, C. Kahana and J. Stavans (2005-6).
Research Fellowships
Fellowships were awarded to R. Shalgi, Dr. G. Amitai (2004-5), and to A. Wasserstrum, I. Kela and I. Venger (2005-6).
Symposia All Weizmann faculty are invited to submit proposals for one or two day Symposia on subjects that are relevant to Systems Biology. Send email to eytan.domany@weizmann.ac.il.
This year the Center sponsored the following meetings:
- "A Decade of Bioinformatics at the Weizmann Institute of Science", Rehovot, Oct 31, 2005
- "International Networks of Protein Engineering Centers (INPEC)", Ein Gedi, Nov. 9-13, 2005
- "Systems Dynamics of Intracellular Communication - Overcoming Distance in Signalling Networks", Ein Gedi, Oct 28 - Nov 2, 2006
Seminars
Monthly seminars are held under joint sponsorship of the Center and BigRoc.
Student Travel Grants
The Center for Systems Biology awards travel fellowships for Weizmann students who present papers/posters at conferences abroad. Awards will match funds provided by the student's advisor but will not exceed $500. Advisors who wish to apply for this award should send a letter (hard copy) and email to eytan.domany@weizmann.ac.il listing the student's name, degree of studies, the subject of his/her research, the title of the talk, the name and date of the conference, an estimate of the travel costs and the source of the travel allocation (which is supplemented by the contribution of the Center).This year more than 20 travel fellowships were awarded by the Center.