Life Sciences Division
1997-98
Progress Report
- Overview
- Mission
- Structure
- Lab Animal Resources
- Operations & Support
- Mouse Genetics Research
- DNA Sequencing Lab
- Gene Expression Chip Lab
- Dosimetry & Biokinetic
- Life Cycle Analysis
- Environmental Assessment
- Biological Sciences
- Functional Genomics & Proteomics
- Structural Biology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Technology Applications
Center for Biological Sciences
DOE-OBER is planning for a significant investment in a new Center for Biological Sciences (CBS) at ORNL during the FY 2001-FY 2004 period. The CBS is planned as a modular complex of buildings, equipment, and infrastructure that will house current and future research programs in the areas of functional genomics, structural biology, proteomics, and systems biology. It will provide the environment for the ORNL biological research program to make significant contributions to biology during the next decade and beyond, with a special focus on complex biological systems research. Development of the CBS will enhance the advantages gained from the program's recent restructuring to embrace not only the biological sciences but also allied disciplines in information science and computing, analytical methodologies, and chemistry. The table below provides funding projections for the CBS.
The first phase in the development of the CBS is the construction of a Laboratory for Comparative and Functional Genomics (LCFG), at an estimated cost of $12 million, to house the MGRF. The LCFG will replace an aging building at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant that is no longer adequate to house one of ORNL's premier research facilities. In addition to housing the mouse colony, the LCFG will include laboratories with special phenotype screening and cryopreservation capabilities.
The CBS will also encompass a proposed Center for Structural Molecular Biology (CSMB), a user facility that will integrate ORNL's unique capabilities in neutron science, as represented by the HFIR and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), with strong programs in mass spectrometry and computational biology. The SNS beam line identified in the table is the principal new capital resource needed to support the CSMB beyond 2003.
| Capital Funding Projections for ORNL Center for Biological
Sciences by fiscal year (in millions of dollars) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | |
|
|
||||
| Laboratory for Comparative and Functional Genomics | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Structural biology beam line for the Spallation Neutron Source | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Computational biology and bioinformatics | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Proteomics | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Instrumentation | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|
15 | 13 | 6 | 4 |
Laboratory resources in bioinformatics and computational biology will add to the scientific stature of the CBS. Efforts in these areas link the functional and structural biology components and also support the development of new efforts in systems biology envisioned as part of the CBS. The CBS will provide space and "connectivity" (computing and information technology infrastructure) for both the bioinformatics and computational biology researchers and the experimental biologists. The leverage gained through this combination of expertise and infrastructure will also provide the tools for use of the CBS facilities as a virtual laboratory by research partners at other institutions.
Research programs at the CBS will encompass ORNL's important efforts in protein biochemistry, which were recognized in 1998 with the election of a senior staff member to the National Academy of Sciences. The CBS will provide the physical environment for integrating these efforts into ORNL's biological research program and bringing them to bear them on the broader charge of proteomics.
Future biological research at ORNL will be aggressively directed to take advantage of advances not only in computational biology but also in instrumentation and measurement sciences and technology. Facilities at the CBS will co-locate bioinstrumentation and bioengineering R&D efforts with the new biological research programs. These programs will build strong alliances with other biological and medical research centers, building on the resources of the Joint Institute for Biological Sciences.