NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) –The Texas A&M University System has contributed $1.3 million in funding to support new genomics and bioinformatics-based internal research initiatives and to fund new research teams and training programs focused on these research areas.
The injection of funds will support four types of grants, each of which will be based on a specific funding need, Texas A&M AgriLife Research said on Monday. It said the funding details and requests for proposals will be released in the coming weeks.
"The program goals are to provide faculty with preliminary results for future grants submissions that will allow them to begin using or expanding their work in human, plant, and animal genomics and the associated societal challenges," Charles Johnson, director of Genomics and Bioinformatics Services for AgriLife Research, said in a statement.
The four grant programs will include the Texas A&M Seed Grant to support next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics; the Genomics Technology Seed Grant to fund computational and systems biology research and genomics and computer technology development; the Whole Systems Genomics Initiative Catalyst Grant to fund research into the ethical, legal, social, and policy challenges involved in genomics studies; and the Genomics of Plant Water Use grants to provide next-gen sequencing and bioinformatics.
The A&M funding sources supporting these programs include the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Dwight Look College of Engineering, the Whole Systems Genomics Initiative, and Texas A&M Health Science Center, AgriLife Research, and the Engineering Experiment Station.