Systems Biology Center of New York

Undergraduate Research Program

The Systems Biology Center New York Summer Undergraduate Research Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is a full-time 10-week research-intensive computational systems biology training program within laboratories of the Center. Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis based on academic achievement, research motivation and compatibility of long-term goals with interests of SBCNY. Program features include:

  • Independent research projects
  • Weekly research seminars
  • $4,000 stipend for the training period

Who Should Apply

Students majoring in biological, mathematical, physical, or engineering sciences are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have plans to pursue a PhD or MD/PhD degree program after graduation and have an interest in incorporating systems biology approaches into the research that they pursue.

Eligible individuals are those who are entering their junior or senior years in an undergraduate degree program within a college of City University of New York. Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents.

The ten week research intensive systems biology training program at SBCNY culminated in the 2012 Program Poster Session which saw students develop an array of scientific projects. Each student worked with the help of mentors from the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine.

Regulation of Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate Levels by Calcium, Nitric Oxide, and Calmodulin via cGMP-Specific Phosphodiesterases

  • Arastehmanesh, David (Queens College)
  • Mentor: Susana Neves, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

A Computational Model and Sensitivity Analysis of the VEGFR-2 Signaling Pathway

  • Begum, Maisam T. (City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Xiaoyan Zhang, MD/PhD (James Gallo Laboratory), Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

The Effects of Genomic Differences in Cancer on Signaling within the EGFR Pathway

  • Gajulapalli, Arjun (Boston College)
  • Mentor: Aislyn Boran Wist, PhD (Ravi Iyengar Laboratory), Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

SHP2: More than a double-edged sword?

  • Klaz, Gabriela
  • Mentor: Yana Zorina, PhD (Ravi Iyengar Laboratory), Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Early Markers in Mechanosensitive Signaling

  • Konkimalla, Arvind (Rutgers University)
  • Mentor: Evren Azeloglu, PhD (Ravi Iyengar Laboratory), Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Interactions between Phosphodiesterases 3 and 4 affect cAMP Production

  • Lee, Isaac (Colgate University)
  • Mentor: Susana Neves, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Understanding Parameters of Ventricular Myocyte Models Utilizing Markov Pathways

  • Lopatkin, Allison (University of Rochester)
  • Mentor: Eric Sobie, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Network Analysis of Retinal Degenerative Disease Genes

  • Pluchenik, Tamara (Queens College)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma’ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Soluble IL-6 Receptor: The Missing Link in STAT3 Signaling

  • Rabinovich, Vera
  • Mentor: Yana Zorina, PhD (Ravi Iyengar Laboratory), Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

 Read the abstracts for the above projects.

The ten week research intensive systems biology training program at SBCNY culm7inated in the 2011 Program Poster Session which saw students develop an array of scientific projects. Each student worked with the help of mentors from the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine. 

Undergraduate

Integrating, Predicting, and Visualizing Mammalian Protein-Protein Interaction Networks

  • Komosinski, Michael (Colgate University)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma'ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Finding Potential Drug Targets to Stimulate Calorie Restriction Benefit

  • Luo, Yan Fei (Brooklyn College)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma'ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Regulation cAMP-specific Phosphodiesterase PDE4D3 by Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor and Dopamine

  • Song, Roy (The City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Susana Neves, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Parameter Interactions in Electrophysiological Models of Cardiac Cells

  • Zaringhalam, Matthew (Colgate University)
  • Mentor: Eric Sobie, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Graduate

Uncovering Upstream Regulatory Mechanisms from Gene Expression Profiles of Breast Cancer Tumors from Patients

  • Gordonov, Simon (University of Cambridge)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma'ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

 Read the abstracts for the above projects.

The ten week research intensive systems biology training program at SBCNY culminated in the 2010 Program Poster Session which saw students develop an array of scientific projects. Each student worked with the help of mentors from the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine and the Department of Physics at Hunter College.

Analysis of Regulatory Motifs Dynamics in Cellular Signaling Kinetic Models

  • Ahmed, Anam (Queens College)
  • Mentor: Simon Hardy, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Integration and Dimensionality Reduction of CMAP (Connectivity MAP) and ChEA (ChIP Enrichment Analysis)

  • Clark, Fred (Fairleigh Dickinson University)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma’ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Combining Comparative Genomics and Quantitative PCR to Create a Rapid, Low Cost Method to Identify Clinical Pathogens

  • Gorenshteyn, Dmitriy (Hunter College)
  • Mentor: Noel Goddard, PhD, Department of Physics, Hunter College

Temporal Integration of Dopamine and Glutamate Inputs into the Striatum

  • Hussaini, Syeda (College of Staten Island)
  • Mentor: Susana Neves, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Modeling the Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Cardiomyocyte Electrophysiology

  • Kharel, Bijay (City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Kevin Costa, PhD, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine

Regulatory Signatures of Cancer Cell Lines Inferred from Expression Data

  • Krishnan, Jayanth (Mahopac High School)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma’ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Parameter Sensitivity Analysis of Ca2+ Spark Using Stochastic Simulation and Regression

  • Li, Guangyang (City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Eric Sobie PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Integrating Genome-wide Chip-Chip & Chip-Seq Studies Profiling Histone Modifications

  • Nnah, Victor (Lehman College)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma’ayan PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Data Integration and Analysis of SILAC Phosphoproteomics Applied to Mammalian Cells

  • Pagan, Pedro (Hunter College)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma'ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Regulatory Network Created from Loss of Function and Gain of Function Studies of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

  • Zhuang, John (Columbia University)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma’ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Read the abstracts for the above projects.

The ten week research intensive systems biology training program at SBCNY culminated in the 2009 Program Poster Session which saw students develop an array of scientific projects. Each student worked with the help of mentors from the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine.

Stochastic Effects in Polymerization Dynamics

  • Agafonova, Alisa (City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Azi Lipshtat, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Post-Infarction Left Ventricular Remodeling and the Law of Laplace

  • Ho, Johnson (City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Kevin Costa PhD, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine

Mathematical Approaches to Understand Changes in Cardiac Action Potential Morphology Caused by Non-specific Drugs

  • McGovern, Kathleen (Hunter College)
  • Mentor: Eric Sobie, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

A Spatial Model of ERK Nuclear Translocation

  • Sanchez, Pamela (Queens College)
  • Mentor: Simon Hardy, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

PathwayGenerator2: Automated Visualization of Signaling Pathways using Flash and ActionScript 3

  • Szenk, Mariola (Hunter College)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma’ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Computational Modeling of 'Leaky' Ryanodine Receptors and Triggered Arrhythmias in Heart Cells

  • Wildstein, Sara (Queens College)
  • Mentor: Eric Sobie, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Read the abstracts for the above projects.

The ten week research intensive systems biology training program at SBCNY culminated in the 2008 Program Poster Session which saw students develop an array of scientific projects. Each student worked with the help of mentors from the Icahn School of Medicine and Hunter College.

Regulation of Dopamine-stimulated cAMP by RGS20

  • Baja, Fejza (New York City College of Technology)
  • Mentor: Susana Neves, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

A High-Throughput, Synthetic Biology Approach to the Study of Eukaryotic Gene Regulation

  • Goldberg, Allison (Hunter College)
  • Mentor: Noel Goddard, PhD, Department of Physics, Hunter College

Calcium Leakage from SR Ryanodine Receptors

  • Liu, Ona (City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Eric Sobie PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Parameter Sensitivity in a Model of the Ventricular Action Potential: Visualizing a Multi-Dimensional Conductance Space

  • Minhas, Preet (City College of New York)
  • Mentor: Eric Sobie, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Modeling of the Road Coloring Problem using Cell-Cell Communication and a Microfluidic Device

  • Sagalovitch, Anastasia (Baruch College)
  • Mentor: Avi Ma'ayan, PhD, Systems Biology Center New York, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine

Read the abstracts for the above projects.