"All over campus you hear biologists saying this is a great time to be a biologist," said Cornell Provost Biddy Martin.
She continued: "When we consider not only the progress in the life sciences, but also our established strengths in computational, engineering and physical sciences, it becomes possible at Cornell to think about the basic mechanisms of life in bigger, broader and more thoughtful terms than ever before. The university is developing teaching, research and outreach plans that cross departments and colleges." And, she added, "The future belongs to those institutions that recruit and support faculty working in strategic areas at the intersections of the physical and life sciences."
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| Among the CU Genomics Initiative's achievements is the establishment of the transgenic mouse core facility, housed in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Shown at the facility's novel transgenic workstation, used to produce mice by combining automated micromanipulation, microscopy and microinjection, are Ke-Yu Deng, left, director of transgenic services, and Michael I. Kotlikoff, chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Frank DiMeo/University Photography |
Friday, Oct. 19, the Cornell Board of Trustees' Buildings and Properties Committee will be looking to that future when they are asked by university architect Peter Karp to approve a site for a new life sciences technologies building. This will be a key part of the second phase of Cornell's Genomics Initiative (CGI), an ambitious plan to meld the life sciences across campus without limits to disciplines.
The board's academic affairs and campus life committee also will be getting a progress report on the first phase of the CGI from Kraig Adler, vice provost for the life sciences, and Stephen Kresovich, director of the university's Institute for Biotechnology and Life Science Technologies and one of the shapers of the initiative's second phase.
By combining resources from across the campus and beyond, the leaders of the CGI aim to make Cornell one of the top five institutions in life science research and education over the next 10 years, said President Hunter Rawlings. "Discoveries in genomics and the life sciences are driving a remarkable new scientific revolution that is full of promise and potential," he said.
Already, said Steven Tanksley, chair of the CGI task force, the first phase has changed the way Cornell scientists think about research and teaching in the life sciences. "Cornell has inherent strengths in computational and information sciences, engineering and the physical sciences, and organismal biology. It is the fusion of these disciplines that is creating the new way in which life sciences is researched and taught," he said. Nor will the social, ethical and legal aspects of genomics research be ignored, he noted, but will be an integral part of the initiative through the work of Cornell's Science and Technology Studies program.
The first phase of the CGI began in 1997 as a faculty-driven plan to strengthen Cornell's position in life sciences research by hiring significant numbers of new faculty, renovating facilities and building new ones, and revamping several academic departments and units. The program reached from the wet labs of the College of Veterinary Medicine to the computer labs of Upson Hall and from the Experiment Station in Geneva to the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
"Achieving recognized distinction in some strategically selected areas of genomics-driven biology is vital to the long-term well-being of the university," said Philip Lewis, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Recognizing this, the task force has drawn on the talents of more than 100 professors from 50 departments and units, drawn from eight colleges and schools and Cornell-based independent organizations such as the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory.
The most significant achievement of the first phase of the CGI was the faculty recruitment of 20 of the country's top young scientists by a cross-section of campus faculty, rather than by individual departments.
Other key accomplishments included:
One result of this aggressive and integrated approach to the life sciences was the designation of Cornell by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research as the site for a genomics technologies center. Cornell also was selected by the USDA as the site for the agency's Center for Agricultural Bioinformatics, a national gene data facility.
In the past five years, Cornell's peer institutions also have been investing heavily in genomics and life sciences. But researchers across campus believe that through the integrated planning, recruitment and investment made possible by the CGI, Cornell can create a powerful synthesis of the life sciences. "The Genomics Initiative has strengthened our college by increasing interdisciplinary interaction among faculty," said Susan Henry, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, echoing the collaborative spirit of the CGI. She added: "It has also increased the rigor of our faculty searches and improved the success rate in attracting top candidates. We are already seeing an increase in research funding and activity due to the hiring of these outstanding new faculty."
In addition, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical College are involved in collaborations with other departments at Cornell, notably in computing. Donald Smith, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, a key CGI participant, said his college "will continue to embrace and implement the concept of one biology for animals and humans by creating meaningful ties with other life scientists."
The stakes are indeed high for Cornell, said Daniel Klessig, president of BTI. "A second phase is critical for the continued strengthening of life sciences programs at Cornell and BTI. Without it, the university will fall behind its peer institutions and eventually lose its position as one of the premier research centers in the life sciences."
See also the story Trying to give a closer view of the promise of genomics -- Cornell style
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