CHICAGO (GenomeWeb) – The Washington University School of Medicine announced today that it has received a $10 million gift from longtime benefactor the Harry Edison Foundation, and will rename its Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology.
The gift was awarded in February.
"We’ve made a commitment to having the latest technologies that are available — the latest sequencing machines, the most up-to-date computer clusters, the most current microscopy platforms, and so on," Wash U computational biologist Barak Cohen said in a statement. "The Edison gift will support bringing these technologies in, so we can build on top of them, so that the center will be at the leading edge of what’s possible."
The newly renamed center is particularly focused on unpacking mysteries of the gut microbiome, as that has been the major research focus of Director Jeffrey Gordon for two decades.
"Washington University is creating a new type of biological scientist — one that combines expertise in experimental biology, including the use of the very latest high-end instrumentation, and in the analysis of very large data sets. Combining these tools and expertise is necessary to make advances in personalized medicine," Gordon added in the statement.
The Edison Foundation has been supporting Washington University School of Medicine since 1967.