UConn Gets Grant For Genome Research

STORRS

In what could further bolster hopes of making the state a hub for genomics research, a University of Connecticut researcher has received a $9.3 million grant as part of the massive international effort to better understand the human genome.

With the four-year grant, Brenton Graveley, a professor of genetics and developmental biology at the UConn Health Center, will study the functions of the genome that essentially turn genes "on" and "off" at certain times and the role this has on disease.

It's one of 15 grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health as part of the Encyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE), a worldwide project that involves hundreds of scientists and is designed to catalog all the functional elements of the genome and learn more about the genetic origins of several diseases.

"It's a big grant," said Dr. Marc Lalande, director UConn's Stem Cell Institute, adding that it's one of the largest the Health Center has received. "But more important than the money, it really boosts our reputation in genomics around the country. The other institutes that were recipients are the best places in the country."

Graveley previously worked on the modENCODE project, an extension of ENCODE, in which researchers mapped the functional elements of the genomes of the fruit fly and roundworm.

The previous phase of the ENCODE project also featured a major contribution from a Connecticut researcher. Mark Gerstein, professor of biomedical informatics at Yale, had received three NIH grants to study the molecular interactions of the genome and the complex networks they form. His research also shed light on the degree to which a mother and father each contribute to a genome. His findings, along with those of the rest of the phase of ENCODE were released in September.

Work in genomics began in earnest in the state in the 1990s, when Connecticut resident Jonathan Rothberg founded CuraGen, one of the first genomics start-up companies. Researchers at Yale, UConn and Wesleyan have since produced several important studies in the field.

The possibility that the state could be a major player in the field gained further ground last year, when state officials announced that Maine-based Jackson Laboratory planned to build a research facility on UConn's campus.

One of the hopes for genomics research is that it will produce an accessible form of personalized medicine which will allow doctors to precisely and quickly diagnose patients and with little trial and error administer effective treatment. It would also give patients a better understanding of their genetic risks for certain diseases.

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UConn Gets Grant For Genome Research