Founded in 2007, the program provides interdisciplinary doctorate training with an emphasis on computational approaches. The G&G program embraces the philosophy that good geneticists are integrative, and incorporate many different genetic sub-fields into their work. Students can train in any UFGI member’s laboratory, regardless of their college or departmental affiliation.
I had the opportunity to be exposed to a lot of tremendous role models and leaders. And getting to watch how they interacted with others has informed how I treat my students and the system of values I use in guiding others.
I was exposed to a lot here that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t create my own company. It was great to have a group of people together with different areas of expertise- faculty and students.
Because the Institute covers everything from plants to humans, it gave me a broad overview of genetic research. The big thing we do here is training and to think how to work as independent scientists.
A lot of the research that I did went and actually changed policy in that country in term of drugs that were being implemented on a human population level to treat disease.
It definitely opened some doors. Through interaction with other students and what they were doing, that’s kind of how I ended up in some of the stem cell courses that were optional. And that’s how I realized I was interested in the field. It more or less shaped what I would do for my PhD.
The UFGI hosts two conferences a year. The Phenotypic Prediction Workshop (brainchild of G&G alum Marcio Resende), and the Florida Genetics Symposium, which draws hundreds of researchers from around the world.
