NEW YORK, March 6 - The University of Washington School of Medicine has created a research center designed to consolidate an array of genomic and proteomic technologies and researchers to study a variety of deadly pathogens.
The Keck Center for Functional, Structural, and Chemical Genomics of Microbial Pathogens will bring together 20 university faculty members "to exploit the full medical potential of existing and forthcoming microbial genome sequences."
The center, established with $2 million from the Los Angeles-based W. M. Keck Foundation, seeks to attract investigators with experience in mass spectrometry, crystallography, and proteomics. It also plans to acquire genomic and biological resources needed to conduct this research, and also to encourage its scientists to collaborate and interact in order to develop new genomic and biologic technologies.
Once organized, researchers working in the center will integrate disciplines including functional genomics and proteomics, structural genomics, and chemical biology. They will try to develop drug and vaccine targets for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pathogenic protozoa, Trypanosomes, Plasmodium, and Leishmania.
The center is co-directed by Chris Wilson, professor and chair of immunology, and Alan Weiner, professor and chair of biochemistry. Members of the governing board include professors Sam Miller of medicine; Wim Hol of biochemistry; Maynard Olson, director of the UW Genome Center; and Stanley Fields, chair of genome sciences.