NHGRI Awards $54 Million To Three Centers Of Excellence In Genomic Science

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NHGRI Awards $54 Million To Three Centers Of Excellence In Genomic

Science

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=50323

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the

National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced grants totaling

$54 million over five years to establish one new Center of Excellence

in Genomic Science (CEGS) and continue support for two existing

centers.

NHGRI's CEGS program, which was started in 2001, pulls together multi-

institution, interdisciplinary teams of scientists with the goal of

making critical advances in genomic research. With the original

centers' five-year awards slated to end this fall, NHGRI will renew

the awards for the Microscale Life Sciences Center at the University

of Washington, Seattle; and the Yale Center of Excellence in Genomic

Science, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Each center will receive

$18 million over the next five years. In addition, NHGRI awarded $18

million over five years to create a new CEGS at the California

Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., which will be called the

Center for In Toto Genomic Analysis of Vertebrate Development.

" The CEGS program is vital to our efforts to apply innovative genomic

tools and technologies to the study of human biology, " said NHGRI

Director Francis S. , M.D., Ph.D. " By fostering collaboration

among researchers from many different disciplines, NHGRI aims to

encourage innovation and build a powerful new framework for exploring

human health and disease. "

At the University of Washington's Microscale Life Sciences Center, a

team led by Deirdre R. Meldrum, Ph.D., will focus on developing

miniaturized, automated systems to swiftly detect and analyze the

differences between healthy cells and diseased cells at the level of

an individual cell. Such information is important for understanding

the fundamental pathways involved in disease processes.

In particular, the Microscale Life Sciences Center is interested in

using its technological innovations to answer questions that focus on

the delicate balance between cell growth and cell death. Imbalances

in this cellular decision-making process play a key role in the top

three disease killers in the United States: cancer, heart disease and

stroke. The University of Washington center lead will move to Arizona

State University in January 2007, and continue collaborating closely

with researchers at University of Washington; Brandeis University,

Waltham, Mass.; and at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,

Seattle.

At the Yale Center of Excellence in Genomic Sciences, a team led by

P. Snyder, Ph.D., will expand upon its efforts to develop new

technologies for identifying the areas of the genome essential to

biological function, also known as functional elements. In the

previous funding period, this CEGS created new genomic tiling array

technologies for identifying transcribed sequences, transcription-

factor binding sites, DNA replication timing and DNA sequence

variation on a large scale.

The Yale researchers will now work to improve these innovative

technologies, as well as explore new methods and approaches,

including protein microarrays, with the goal of using these tools in

an integrated fashion to analyze the regulatory steps involved in

inflammation. The inflammatory process is part of the body's normal

response to injury or infection. However, if inflammation runs amok,

it can contribute to heart disease, arthritis, asthma, allergies,

chronic skin disorders and many other conditions. Among the

technologies to be utilized are protein microarrays, which are

microscopic chips containing thousands of proteins that can be

analyzed for a variety of biological characteristics and activities.

At the newly created CEGS at Caltech, a team led by nne Bronner-

Fraser, Ph.D., will generate new technologies with the goal of

imaging every gene that is important for development in vertebrates.

The Center for In Toto Genomic Analysis of Vertebrate Development

will initially develop and test its technologies in zebrafish

embryos, which are an ideal model system for obtaining rapid feedback

because they are transparent and develop quickly. Once validated, the

techniques will be applied to bird embryos, which share more

developmental similarities with humans.

Ultimately, the team plans to produce a " digital " fish and

a " digital " bird, which will be widely available, online atlases of

all the genes involved in development of those vertebrate systems.

The technologies and datasets developed by this center will serve as

a valuable resource to researchers studying the influence of genetics

and environment on birth defects and other developmental disorders in

humans.

Besides carrying out their research missions, CEGS also serve as a

focal point for providing education and training about genomic

research opportunities to members of under-represented minorities.

Participants span a wide spectrum of ages and educational levels,

ranging from college undergraduates to post-doctoral fellows. More

information on this program is available at

http://www.genome.gov/14514219.

In addition to the centers at Caltech, Yale and the University of

Washington, other current participants in the CEGS program are:

* Brent, Ph.D., Molecular Sciences Institute, Berkeley, CA

* Church, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston

* Feinberg, M.D., s Hopkins University School of Medicine,

Baltimore. This CEGS is co-funded by NHGRI and the National Institute

of Mental Health.

* Jinguye Ju, Ph.D., Columbia University, New York. This CEGS is co-

funded by NHGRI and the National Institute of Mental Health.

* S. Talbot, Ph.D., Stanford University School of Medicine,

Palo Alto, CA

* Waterman, Ph.D., University of Southern California, Los

Angeles

* Maynard V. Olson, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle