Spring Break
Univ. to make genetic database
KELLY PROCTOR
While scientists worry about the spread of disease in the tsunami-ravaged parts of Asia, the federal government has chosen the University to help understand the diseases themselves.
The University recently signed a five-year, $3 million contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a database about disease-causing pathogens.
The database will carry images of disease-causing pathogens' genomes -- an organism's genetic material -- so that scientists can compare them.
A team of researchers from the University and the University of Pennsylvania will supply the database with information about malaria and other diseases.
"It's like Google for a genome," said Boris Striepen, a University professor of cellular biology.
Eileen Kraemer, a University computer science professor, will be working to create visuals of the genomes and a giant database to carry the images.
Kraemer will be working with Jessica Kissinger, a genetics professor and a member of the University's Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, and John Miller, another computer science professor at the University.
"Right now, (with existing databases) you can only see one organism at a time," Kraemer said.
She will write new code for the database. The government expects an early version of the database in six months.
Kraemer predicts the project will take a large amount of dedication. "It's going to take us forever," she said, laughing.
"It's not a research grant," Kissinger said. "It's a contract with the government ... it's no different in that respect to supplying porta-potties to Iraq."
She said patients would not be able to directly benefit from the database; it is mostly for research purposes.
"These databases are two steps removed from patients," said Kissinger.
"Many organisms are difficult to study. If we sequence their genomes ... we can better see the pathogens' (genetic) patterns," she added.
She said she hopes understanding the diseases will help scientists uncover their cures.
Striepen said the database will help researchers at the University conduct experiments on infectious diseases, including the undergraduate researchers who generate new information on the diseases.
