Notable

The Cornell Theory Center (CTC) has announced the awarding of two undergraduate summer internships in computational biology. Cornell biology majors Nicholas DeNunzion and Katherine Varley, both entering their senior years in the fall, will spend the summer in Rhodes Hall working with scientists at CTC's Computational Biology Service Unit (CBSU). Each student also receives an award of $5,000.

DeNunzio will use computers to explore a segment of the X chromosome of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, helping researchers from Professor Charles Aquadro's lab in molecular biology and genetics look for functional genes in a region that is currently considered empty.

As an intern, he will have the opportunity to hone his skills in bioinformatics under the guidance of CBSU scientists Jarek Pillardy and Daniel Ripoll, as well as Golan Yona, professor of computer science.

Varley's internship will focus on annotation of a collection of DNA sequences from the tomato genome being studied by Steven Tanksley, professor of plant biology. Varley will compare amino acid sequences from the tomato against the entire proteome of the model plant species, Arabidopsis, using the CBSU LOOPP software to predict the function of tomato genes based on their similarity to known genes in Arabidopsis.

In addition to the two internships, CTC announced three $1,000 honorable mention awards given to David Arnold ('03 chemical and biomolecular engineering), Christopher Parkhurst ('02 neurobiology and behavior) and David Rand ('04 computer science).

"We were very impressed by the quality of proposals that we received for this program," said CTC Director Linda Callahan. "And we were very pleased with the breadth of the fields from which we received applicants. This is a great opportunity for such exceptional students to immerse themselves in bioinformatics with the staff at CTC's CBSU."

CTC's undergraduate summer internships in computational biology are funded through an IBM University Partnership award. The program runs from June into August. The call for proposals for 2003 will be available in February of next year.