July 20, 2000 - Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati Researchers Gain Access to Key Genomic Information
CINCINNATI -- The Children's Hospital Research Foundation and the University of Cincinnati have signed an agreement with Celera Genomics that will give researchers at the two institutions access to key databases of genomic information. The access to genomic information about the mouse, fruit fly, and human will help researchers gather and interpret data, optimizing approaches to curing and treating disease.
Celera Genomics and scientists from the publicly funded Human Genome Project announced late last month that they had completed the first assembly of the human genome. An assembled genome is one in which the location and order of the letters of genetic code along the chromosomes are known.
"This agreement gives us the ability to rapidly identify genes that play a role in development and in the disease processes that we're trying to understand and to develop new and better approaches to therapy," says Thomas Boat, M.D., director of the Children's Hospital Research Foundation. "Once we identify the genes, we can then turn toward identifying their function. These databases will speed up both our basic and clinical research."
For example, if scientists find genes turned on in different childhood leukemias, they may be able to determine which children with leukemia have the same profile and which ones are different. They then could develop therapies that would work best for different leukemia subgroups.
The three-year subscription agreement with Celera will give researchers access to four databases, all of which include proprietary Celera information as well as publicly available data. Celera's Human Genome Database is expected to provide the complete sequence of the human genome and the entire collection of human genes with links to associated biological and disease information.
Celera's Drosophila Genome Database is extensively annotated with gene, protein and biological information. The Mouse Genome Database will allow for comparative analysis with the human genome that may be especially significant for the identification of genes and gene regulatory regions of importance to understanding human biology.
Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati ranks among the top three pediatric medical centers in the United States in research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Discoveries at the Children's Hospital Research Foundation include the Sabin oral polio vaccine, first practical heart-lung machine, and a surfactant used throughout the world to prevent premature infant death.
Contact Information
Jim Feuer, jfeuer@chmcc.org
