PASADENA, Calif.—The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded an $18-million grant for creation of a Center of Excellence in Genomic Science at the California Institute of Technology.
According to Marianne Bronner-Fraser, the Ruddock Professor of Biology at Caltech and principal investigator of the five-year program, the goal will be to image and mutate every developmentally important gene in vertebrates—that is, animals with backbones.
The work will be performed together with co-investigators Sean Megason and Scott Fraser from the Division of Biology, and Niles Pierce, an assistant professor of applied and computational mathematics and bioengineering.
"We will combine real-time analysis of gene expression on a genome-wide scale with the ability to mutate genes of interest," Bronner-Fraser says.
Initially, the research team will focus on the zebrafish, which is ideal for this type of work because of its transparent embryo and its rapid development.
"Our goal is to create the 'digital fish,'" Megason says. "This will be a computer model of the genetic orchestra that transforms an egg into an embryo."
"There will be an enormous payoff in new information about how development works at the genomic level," Bronner-Fraser adds.
The researchers will use new "in toto" imaging and genetic tagging tools invented by Megason and Fraser and new molecular detection methods being developed in the Pierce lab to analyze gene expression and function in the developing embryos. They will digitize this molecular data on a genomic scale by capturing thousands of time-lapse videos as the animals develop.
Once the approach is worked out on zebrafish, it will also be applied to the Japanese quail to make a "digital bird," because bird embryos develop in a fashion very similar to human embryos.
The Caltech grant is part of a $54-million grant portfolio awarded by the NHGRI for funding interdisciplinary work in genomic research. The NHGRI is best known for spearheading the Human Genome Project, which completely mapped the genetic blueprint of humans.
Now that the sequence of the genome for humans and many other species has been determined, the challenge ahead is to figure out how the genome functions during development and disease which is the goal of the CEGS (Center for Excellence in Genomic Science) program.
"The CEGS program is vital to our efforts to apply innovative genomic tools and technologies to the study of human biology," said NHGRI Director Francis S. Collins. "By fostering collaboration among researchers from many different disciplines, NHGRI aims to encourage innovation and build a powerful new framework for exploring human health and disease."
