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Source: Bill Gordon
415-476-2557
07 December 2000
New institute integrates powerful tools of physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences with biomedical research
The creation of the Institute for Bioengineering, Biotechnology and Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), announced today by Governor Gray Davis, represents the next revolution in biomedical research. The Institute promises to integrate physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences to create powerful new techniques for attacking biological problems of such enormous complexity that they simply remained unapproachable - until now.
This integration of sciences could open the way for discovery of treatments and cures for some of our most intractable diseases, such as brain disorders, cancer, and diabetes.
With the aid of greatly improved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and innovative computer-assisted analysis developed at the new Institute, for example, physicians will be able to detect prostate and breast cancer earlier and treat the diseases more effectively. The system will combine the most detailed physical images available anywhere with precise mapping of telltale chemical activity in tumors.
Through the Institute's new technology and collaborations, research will include projects such as development of artificial tissues that mimic those found in the human body, to be used to make replacement blood vessels, bone implants, and synthetic replacement organs.
Another focus will be bioinformatics -- computing methods to sift through the volumes of data generated by the human genome project, aimed at looking for genes that play key roles in disease and health. Bioinformatics includes the creation of biological models that someday may allow scientists to do experiments on a computer rather than in a test tube.
A partnership of three University of California campuses, the Institute will be headquartered at UC San Francisco, a world-wide leader in biomedical research, with strong programs in both fundamental biological research and in research directly related to disease. An equally strong partner in research is UC Berkeley, which will provide expertise in both the biological sciences and in analytical fields including physics, chemistry, engineering and computer science. Internationally recognized as a leader in the mathematical sciences related to genomics, UC Santa Cruz will be the third partner campus.
David Agard, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and UCSF professor of biochemistry and biophysics, will direct the Institute. Co-directors will be Graham R. Fleming, PhD, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry and director of the Physical Bioscience Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and David Haussler, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, UC Santa Cruz professor of computer and information science and a co-director of the Institute.
"This Institute will represent an unprecedented collaboration among the three campuses, breaking down the traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines. The result should be a greatly enhanced understanding of the human organism, new approaches to the prevention and treatment of disease, and powerful stimuli to the economy of California," said UCSF Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl, PhD, said, "Tackling today's most challenging health problems requires scientists and scholars from many fields building upon one another's expertise. This institute does just that. Equally important, it will help us to train students to excel in this new way of doing health science research."
Organized around three research and education modules -- Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, and Structural and Chemical Biology -- the Institute will focus on developing techniques for storing and analyzing vast quantities of biological information and using imaging and mathematical modeling to view molecules, cells, and single organ systems as part of functional networks. These technologies will allow scientists to understand interactions and predict outcomes and to reconstruct parts of living systems in the laboratory to improve human health.
"The sequencing of the human genome and other advances in molecular genetics have ushered in an exciting and promising new era in biomedical research," said UC Santa Cruz Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood, PhD. "Through creative interdisciplinary collaborations, this institute will deliver new discoveries, new products, and new technologies for the benefit of human health-and we are very pleased that some of the research strengths of UC Santa Cruz will contribute."
One of three new California Institutes for Science and Innovation to be developed at UC campuses, QB3 will occupy a new building containing 92,000 usable square feet that the campus expects to construct at the UCSF Mission Bay campus by 2004. A portion of the Institute's 54 laboratories at UCSF also will be housed in 90,000 square feet of the first building now under construction at UCSF Mission Bay, about a mile south of San Francisco's Financial District. The 43-acre teaching and research campus is expected to attract one of the nation's most important concentrations of biotechnology and life sciences companies to a private research and development zone surrounding the site.
"The new Institute will spur discovery at the interface of physical and biomedical science, generating new ideas and new technologies that will keep California at the forefront of the new economy," said Zach W. Hall, PhD, UCSF executive vice chancellor and the leader in developing QB3.
The UCSF buildings will house the Institute's Bioengineering and Biotechnology module and will include a high-field MRI system that will be the most powerful in the state and promises to serve as a unique regional resource.
The Institute's multidisciplinary approach to health science also complements UC Berkeley's ambitious $500 million Health Sciences Initiative, which seeks to advance health science research through collaboration. The Berkeley campus plans to use QB3 funding to build a new research facility, the first building on campus dedicated to multidisciplinary health sciences research. The 150,000 square foot building will house 41 principal investigators from physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, engineering and structural biology.
"By bringing together researchers in the fields of biology, physics, engineering, and computer science, UC Berkeley will open new avenues to advancing the cause of improving health with innovative diagnostic capabilities and new therapies," said Edward E. Penhoet, PhD, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. "It really is the integration of basic science into the health sector."
At UC Santa Cruz, the Institute's Bioinformatics and Analysis of Complex Biological Systems module will be housed in 11,250 square feet of a new Physical Sciences Building, scheduled for completion in 2002, and in another campus building.
"Bioinformatics has applications ranging from basic molecular biology to clinical diagnostics and medical imaging. Through the institute, top researchers in all these areas from three UC campuses will join forces to develop novel technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases," said Haussler.
As one of the three University of California institutes selected by the Governor, QB3 will receive state funds totaling $100 million across the three campuses. For every dollar from the state, the Institute will provide $2 of outside funding, mainly from private donors.
The Institute creates an important opportunity to train a new generation of biomedical researchers to apply mathematics and engineering solutions to health-related challenges. This cross-discipline training is the cornerstone of UC Berkeley's and UCSF's new joint-campus bioengineering department. Graduates of this program will fill the tremendous need in industry for biomedical researchers with quantitative backgrounds, thus furthering the development of California's economy.
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