SEATTLE, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), an internationally renowned non-profit research institute with a mission of exploring the complexities of human genes in order to prevent and treat diseases, received a five-year, $16.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund the operation of a Center for Systems Biology in Seattle.
The new Center will be housed at ISB's research and office building, located on Lake Union, and will foster collaborative research among the diverse set of researchers at ISB. With a faculty and staff composed of biologists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians and physicists, ISB designed the Center to bring its researchers together in order to further the systems approach to biology and medicine they have pioneered since its formation in 2000.
"The future of systems biology depends on effective collaborations among researchers from different disciplines," said John Aitchison, the new associate director of the Center for Systems Biology. "This grant will help the institute grow in its capacity to conduct collaborative research, develop new technologies and reach out to the larger community."
The Center will be only the sixth of its kind in the U.S. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of NIH, is funding the centers in an effort to support the systems biology work already being done at institutes like ISB. Other systems biology centers have been established at Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Case Western Reserve University.
"This grant provides crucial support to ISB as we continue to push the limits of science in order to make new discoveries about biology and the human body, and ultimately find new ways to fight diseases," said Leroy Hood, Institute for Systems Biology's president and co-founder. "By gathering together researchers from multiples fields, using the new technologies that we have developed and the computer modeling programs we've pioneered, we will advance our research in ways not possible before."
The center will provide professional development, including workshops, courses, internships, and sabbatical opportunities, in order to help researchers learn about the systems biology approach, combine their expertise and further ISB's research on human biology and disease. Resources and results from the work conducted at the Center will be shared with the larger scientific community. In addition, it will be a place for students in grades K-12 to experience inquiry-based science, a method encouraging young scientists to explore, ask questions, engage, and analyze data as they study the field of science.
"The emergence of systems biology as a defined discipline can partly be attributed to the vision of Dr. Hood," said Jeremy M. Berg, Ph.D., director of NIGMS. "With his track record in technological innovation and his interest in training the next generation of scientists, Dr. Hood and his center are likely to continue to help define the discipline and, at the same time, advance our understanding of complex biological processes that impact human health."
Systems biology uses advanced computer methods to model complex biological systems, like the human body, based on large quantities of data. ISB has built advanced computer systems to process data and formed a multidisciplinary faculty and staff. They are devoted to developing new technology and biological research to advance our understanding of disease.
About the Institute for Systems Biology
The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is an internationally renowned non-profit research institute dedicated to the study and application of systems biology. ISB's goal is to unravel the mysteries of human biology and identify strategies for predicting and preventing diseases such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS. The driving force behind the innovative "systems" approach is the integration of biology, computation and technology. This approach allows scientists to analyze all of the elements in a system rather than one gene or protein at a time. Located in Seattle, Washington, the Institute's team includes 11 faculty members and more than 170 staff members, and an extensive network of academic and industrial partners. The organization has an annual budget of more than $25 million.
ISB carries out its research with a specific mission: to not only cure complex diseases but also predict an individual's future health prognosis, in order to get early treatment. The ISB team of leading-edge researchers are committed to pursuing the innovations that will transform science and medicine in the 21st century and eventually lead to the prediction and prevention of disease. For more information about the ISB visit: http://www.systemsbiology.org.
About the National Institute of General Medical Sciences
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports basic biomedical research that is the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The Institute launched an initiative in 2002 to create Centers of Excellence in Complex Biomedical Systems Research. The initiative provides grants to research centers like ISB to conduct systems research. For more information about NIGMS visit: http://www.nigms.nih.gov/
Institute for Systems BiologyCONTACT: Tod Steward, +1-206-694-0005, tod.steward@gmmb.com, for Institutefor Systems Biology
