NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Ireland has granted €14.8 million ($21.6 million) to establish a center focused on systems biology, Conor Lenihan, the Irish minister for Science, Technology and Innovation said today.
The five years of funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) will start the Systems Biology Ireland (SBIR) center, which will be led by University College Dublin.
Several corporate partners are joining SBI in supporting the center, including Agilent Technologies, Siemens Ireland, Protagen, Ark Therapeutics, Hewlett Packard, and Servier.
"As the pipeline for new therapeutic drugs becomes constricted it is recognized that a fresh approach to understanding disease is timely," SFI Director General Frank Gannon said in a statement. "The convergence of computer modeling and the study of the biological system brings new challenges and opportunities."
Lenihan called the investment "clear evidence of the Government's ongoing commitment to further enhancing Ireland's scientific base to aid our economic recovery."