New web site offers close look at Cornell's life sciences research

Thanks to life sciences research at Cornell, one day you might receive vaccines simply by eating bananas or potatoes. Health inspectors could use hand-held sensors to detect E. coli in food or the presence of anthrax in a matter of minutes. You may be able to follow a custom-tailored diet based on your genetic makeup to lower susceptibility to inherited diseases.

This is the stuff of the New Life Sciences Initiative (NLSI), the largest interdisciplinary scientific effort in Cornell's history. It will have an impact on fields as diverse as medicine, agriculture, food safety and the environment. And now, information on these discoveries that are about to change the way we live is available on the university's NLSI web site at http://www.lifesciences.cornell.edu.

"Cornell faculty and students are involved in research that is significantly advancing our understanding of life and life processes," said Kraig Adler, Cornell's vice provost for life sciences. "With this site, we want to show the importance of this research, not just to the university, but to improving the lives of people everywhere."

The new site summarizes research efforts in a wide range of disciplines, offers links to faculty and their research projects, outlines practical applications growing out of life-science research, and lists lectures, meetings and other coming events in the field. Visitors to the site can sign up to receive future news about the initiative's research by e-mail.

The NLSI involves seven colleges, 45 departments and several hundred faculty. Many of the projects involve scientific teams working across departmental boundaries in biology, the physical sciences, engineering, computer sciences and other disciplines on the Cornell campus. This collaborative approach now is necessary for biologists, who need the tools and materials created by engineers and physical scientists and the information-handling power of computer scientists to help them gather and evaluate the extensive scientific data resulting from the advanced understanding of the structure and function of genes.

Funding for the NLSI, which will come from government, private donors and corporate scientific partnerships, will be used to recruit new faculty, build and renovate facilities, and advance programs central to life sciences research and education. This includes a state-of-the-art Life Science Technology Building (read related story) that, in concert with other facilities at Cornell, will create the largest life sciences research and educational complex in New York state.