TORONTO--Researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children here have established Canada's only mirror site of the Genome Database and stated that they are considering taking over management when US funding for the Johns Hopkins University site is discontinued at the end of January.
The Genome Database was created at Hopkins in 1989 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to capture data from Yale University's Human Gene Mapping Library. It has since become an important source of human genetic mapping data and includes information on human genes, probes, clones, and allele frequencies.
Funding for maintenance of the Hopkins mirror sites worldwide has helped ensure international access to the data. The annual cost to operate the site at the Hospital for Sick Children will be approximately $100,000. The project will be included in the hospital's bioinformatics program, which was established last year.
"The hospital has been an undisputed leader in human gene mapping within Canada," observed Jamie Cuticchia, head of bioinformatics. "Given the relationship between bioinformatics and the genome program, it is only natural that we build on that excellence and expand into this new area."