NEWS INDEX Archives 2004 April

Institute for Genomic Biology announces five themes for research

Jim Barlow, Life Sciences Editor
217-333-5802; jebarlow@uiuc.edu

4/21/04

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Although the doors of the Institute for Genomic Biology won’t open for two years, 31 faculty and 35 affiliates from 25 campus units have been chosen to be in five newly named research themes in the state-of-the-art facility under construction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The five themes – chosen from 15 proposals in a semester-long competitive selection process – fall into three broad and interrelated program areas: Systems Biology, Cellular and Metabolic Engineering, and Genome Technology, said IGB Director Harris A. Lewin. The proposals, submitted last fall, were evaluated by an outside six-member review panel made up of internationally known scientists in six areas of genomic biology.

“After careful review, we decided which proposals really fit into the mission of the institute and its main program areas,” Lewin said. “Now we can begin the process of growing those themes. By choosing them now, the participants are empowered to compete for large-scale funding over the next two years. The idea is that when the doors open, everybody has an address and all the themes already will be funded.”

The five research themes each receive 10,000 square-foot laboratories:

• Biocomplexity: Led by Nigel Goldenfeld (physics), this group will seek to understand complex microbial ecosystems. Microbes represent more than one-half of the planet’s biomass and form the foundation for all ecosystems. The team will compare microbial genomes, which include their genetic instruction manuals and fossil records of their environments. New theories for understanding and predicting the behavior of complex systems will be evaluated using microbial communities as a model. Such knowledge could be important for the bioremediation of toxic waste and for understanding the effects of geological and global climate change.

Other faculty and their primary departmental affiliations are Bruce Fouke (geology), Rodney Mackie (animal science), Carl Woese and Gary Olsen (microbiology) and Lutgarde Raskin (civil engineering).

Faculty affiliates in this theme are Karin Dahmen and Yoshi Oono (physics), Jay Mittenthal (cell and structural biology), Abigail Salyers (microbiology) and Peter Seiler (mechanical and industrial engineering).

• Genomic Ecology of Global Change: Led by Don Ort (plant biology), this group will study ecosystem response to rapid changes in climate, particularly those associated with projected global warming. Combining molecular and ecological research with mathematical modeling and bioinformatics, team members will work at the level of genomes and proteomes to predict changes in structure and function of agricultural ecosystems. Farm and forest pest management and the treatment of plant diseases could benefit.

Other faculty: May Berenbaum (entomology), Hans Bohnert and Evan DeLucia (plant biology), Steve Long (crop sciences) and Mary Schuler (cell and structural biology).

Affiliates: Gustavo Caetano-Anolles, Stephen Moose, Torbert Rocheford and Lila Vodkin (crop sciences), Nicki Engeseth (food science and human nutrition), Steven Huber (plant biology), Eric de Sturler (computer science) and Raymond Zielinski (plant biology).

• Genomics of Neural and Behavioral Plasticity: Under the leadership of Gene Robinson (entomology), the team will explore how the genome and environment may work to control behavior. They will focus on the effects of environmental stimuli on the nervous system, changes in gene expression in the brain, resulting changes in the brain and behavior and genetic variation in behavioral traits among species. Their findings could result in new medical therapeutics for mental health problems, aging and developmental disorders.

Other faculty: David F. Clayton, Martha Gillette and Tzumin Lee (cell and structural biology), Kimberly A. Hughes (animal biology), Oono (physics) and Hugh M. Robertson (entomology).

Affiliates: Berenbaum and Sydney Cameron (entomology), Ira Carmen (political science), Julia George, Mittenthal and Craig Mizzen (cell and structural biology), Rhanor Gillette (molecular and integrative physiology), Paul Gold, Donna Korol and William Greenough (psychology), Goldenfeld (physics), Sandra L. Rodriguez-Zas (animal sciences), Bruce Schatz (library and information science), Andrew Suarez (animal biology), Jonathan Sweedler (chemistry) and Woese (microbiology).

• Mining Microbial Genomes for Novel Antibiotics: This team, led by William Metcalf (microbiology), will work to expand and revitalize the examination of natural products – secondary metabolites – made by microbes. The goal is to discover new antibiotics to replace those being rendered ineffective by resistance. Using new genome-driven technologies, the team will develop new screening and assessment techniques for the study of microbes and new products they may uncover.

Other faculty: Brian Cunningham (electrical and computer engineering), Wilfred van der Donk (chemistry), Brenda Wilson (microbiology) and Huimin Zhao (chemical and biomolecular engineering).

• Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering: Team leader Larry Schook (animal sciences) will guide a research effort that will link campus programs in nanotechnology, bioengineering, genomics, biomaterials and computer sciences as well as clinical programs of Carle Foundation Hospital and the College of Medicine. The goal is the development of regenerative biology and tissue engineering approaches that could lead to new drugs, biomaterials and nanodevices to combat chronic age and lifestyle-associated diseases.

Other faculty: Rex Gaskins (animal sciences), Russell Jamison (materials science and engineering), Paul Kenis and Deborah Leckband (chemical and biomolecular engineering), Phil Newmark (cell and structural biology) and Michael Welge (Disability Research Institute).

Affiliates: Ilesanmi Adesida, Steven Boppart and Bruce Wheeler (electrical and computer engineering), Jon Beever (animal sciences), Richard Burkhardt (history), Sharon Donovan and Timothy Garrow (food science and human nutrition), Peter Garlick (animal sciences), Michael Goldwasser (surgery), Jon Henry (cell and structural biology) and Brad Schwartz (internal medicine).

In addition to these five research themes, two more themes will be chosen, including one that will fall into the IGB’s “Genome Technology” program. The three broad program areas will occupy separate wings of the facility.

Primary faculty in each theme will be provided office space and share a highly integrated laboratory environment, Lewin said. The building also will house administrative offices of the IGB and Biotechnology Center, an 80-person conference area, a cafeteria and two classrooms – a bioinformatics teaching laboratory with workstations for 50 students and one for advanced courses in genomic biology-related areas.

Proposals for the themes had to address 13 key points and how each may be fulfilled. Among them: the scientific issue involved and who would benefit; social, legal and ethical issues that may arise; economic potential of the research, including intellectual property issues; potential funding sources; and academic activities that may be possible as part of a theme, including courses, training grants and professional conferences.

“All of the themes connect within the three programmatic areas of the institute,” Lewin said. “They just won’t be seven themes walled off individually. They are all connected under the overall theme of genomic biology.”

The proposals were screened by outside scientists who represented the fields of immunology and infectious diseases, evolution, systems biology, plant science, biomedical genomics and pharmaceuticals, bioinformatics and genome technology. On the themes review panel were members of the National Academy of Sciences, Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, National Institute of Medicine and the biotechnology industry.