NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has just issued $106 million to three genome sequencing centers for research into infectious diseases.
Under the contracts, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the J. Craig Venter Institute have been awarded $43 million each, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, has won $20 million.
The funds for the three Genome Sequencing Centers for Infectious Disease grants were awarded within the last week.
NIAID's Division of Microbiology and Infectious Disease has a requirement to support genome sequencing activities including high-throughput sequencing, comparative genomic sequencing, and genotyping.
The sequencing projects conducted at these centers will include microorganisms that are considered bioterror pathogens, clinical isolates, closely related strains, invertebrate disease carriers, and microorganisms that may be responsible for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.