Gov. George E. Pataki recently announced over $200 million in state and private funding to establish the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, which utilizes supercomputers to analyze biological data. The center will be the third of its kind in New York and cements UB as a major player in the emerging field of bioinformatics.
As one of the center's key academic and research partners, UB is involved in its funding and administration and will provide educational support through degree programs in bioinformatics.
The Human Genome Project, which developed new computational methods for analyzing genetic mapping and DNA sequencing data, sparked the need for a new concentration within the field of bioinformatics. Called computational biology, the concentration involves locating genes in the DNA sequences of various organisms and developing methods to predict the structure and function of the sequences.
"A staple of bioinformatics is the creation and maintenance of databases of biological information. However, due to the success of the human genome project, a more immediate and pressing task requires the analysis of sequence information," stated Russ Miller, director of UB's Center for Computational Research, in an e-mail.
The governor's announcement comes on the heels of the $15.3 million Pataki pledged for a Strategically Targeted Academic Research Center (STAR Center) for UB in May. The STAR Center will specifically concentrate on the development of drug therapies, a mission the Center for Excellence also shares.
"It is now critical to elucidate the function of each gene, as it is this information that will lead to a greater understanding of human development and the ability to treat many diseases, including AIDS, cancer, MS (multiple sclerosis), and Alzheimer's," said Miller.
The vast influx of genetic information requires the use of supercomputers which are faster and more powerful than standard computers.
"We are generating more data than we can write down," said Dr. Bruce Holm, senior associate dean for the school of medicine. "Supercomputers store and sort faster [than manual methods]."
This is where the Center for Computational Research comes in.
"CCR will provide bioinformatics support in terms of high-performance computing, visualization, and bioinformatics software," said Miller. "CCR will also provide workshops and training in order to enhance the utilization of such infrastructure."
Miller said the new Center for Excellence places the university and the Western New York region in a position to become world leaders not only in bioinformatics, but also in pharmaceutical drug discovery.
"This will help UB attract additional high-quality faculty, it will help UB retain its best scientists who work in these areas, it will provide opportunities for UB to increase its level of research funding, which will increase the national ranking of UB, which will provide UB with the opportunity to attract and fund the best and brightest students," said Miller.
Students involved with the center will have access to state-of-the-art facilities, world-class scientists, collaborative research efforts and a host of other corporate resources.
"Students will be drawn to what many are calling the major scientific focus of the new millennium," stated Miller.
The center has also enabled the university to create training programs on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. According to Holm, these programs will teach students the new technology as it is employed in the field of bioinformatics, which should be particularly useful when seeking high-tech jobs across the country.
"Currently [bioinformatics] can only be done as a special major. We are just waiting for state and SUNY approval to make it an official major," said Holm.
Holm also said eventually bioinformatics will be offered as a minor and in doctoral and post-doctoral programs.
UB professor William Duax, a Hebert A. Hauptman Distinguished Scientist, said the center will bring together key players from within the local medical community, namely the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University at Buffalo.
"The sum of the whole is better than the individual parts," said Duax.
According to Holm, the project will use science to "stir" the local economy by bringing a host of companies - including Compaq, Dell, Sun Microsystems and Veridian - to Buffalo.
"The corporate component is critical to the last-mile effort of translating world-class research into marketable products that will benefit people around the globe," stated Miller.
By pooling their resources, the partner companies hope to develop the STAR Center at UB as a key research center and thereby help invigorate the local economy.
"We want to keep everything here [in Buffalo]," said Holm, "discover here, commercialize here to create economic growth."
The Center of Excellence will initially stimulate economic growth through the construction of a new building to house its operations. The proposed site for the new facility is in Buffalo's medical corridor, located downtown near Roswell Park, Hauptman-Woodward and Buffalo General Hospital.
In addition to the construction, "renovation will likely occur on both the North and South campus in order to house some of the key laboratories until the new facility is available," said Miller.
No date has been announced for when the center will be fully operational.
"We are recruiting faculty and purchasing equipment," Miller said.
