Molecular Biophysics Training Program (MBTP)

For over 60 years, graduate training in Biophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is organized through two distinct but very closely allied programs: the Biophysics Program, which confers the Ph.D. in Biophysics to its graduates, and the Molecular Biophysics Training Program (MBTP), a program built around an NIH NRSA Institutional Training Grant (T32) awarded through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (currently T32GM158463)

MBTP was first awarded in 1965; it continued until the phase-out of NIH training programs in the 1970s, and was funded again beginning in 1989 through the present. The MBTP and the Biophysics PhD programs are coordinated through a common leadership and administrative structure to bring together the UW-Madison biophysics community.

The shared mission of Biophysics and the MBTP is to provide predoctoral-level training in interdisciplinary quantitative research at the interface between biological and physical disciplines. The goal is achieved by

1. providing students with the advanced skills and the rigorous conceptual training on the theoretical foundations of biophysics necessary to solve biological problems at the molecular level via quantitative approaches;
2. providing access and technical training and state-of-the-art facilities (cryo-EM / cryo-ET, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry, light and super-resolution microscopy, high-throughput computing, and more); and
3. preparing the students to successfully transition into careers in biomedical research.

Biophysics and the MBTP recruit cohorts of students from a variety of biological and physical majors, bringing together trainers and trainees with complementary experiences and interests and favoring communication, exchange of ideas, peer teaching/learning, sharing, and collaboration.

Our faculty trainers come from many departments from six different colleges (Agricultural & Life Sciences, Letters & Science, School of Medicine and Public Health, Engineering, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine). They share an interest in research at the interface between biological and physical disciplines and are engaged in a robust collaborative network that provides an ideal ground for rigorous interdisciplinary graduate training.

MBTP trainee slots are assigned through a nomination process to early-career Biophysics students in their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years of graduate school. Eligible students must be U.S. Citizens or permanent residents. The program makes an annual call for nominations. 1st year students are nominated by the Admissions Committee; year 2-3 students are nominated by their thesis advisor.