$1.25 Million for a Center of Excellence in
Biomedical Computing

The Penn Genomics Institute (PGI) and the Penn Center for Bioinformatics (PCBI) have recently received an NIH P20 planning grant for $250,000 a year (for 5 years) for a Center of Excellence in Biomedical Computing. This grant will help organize planning activities to establish a national center for comparative and integrative computational genomics at Penn. The funds will be used for administrative development and pilot seed grants for research in related areas.

The PGI was founded in 2001 (Almanac February 6, 2001). The institute expects to announce solicitations for the seed grants shortly. The principal investigator, Dr. Junhyong Kim, professor of biology, said, "This is a great opportunity to establish Penn as a leader in an exciting new field of biomedical sciences." Co-principal investigator, Dr. Susan Davidson, professor of computer and information sciences and interim director of PCBI, added, "Penn has made a significant investment in genomics and bioinformatics over the past five years. The NIH funds will allow us to move to the next level of integrative research across biomedicine, statistics, computer science, and engineering."  The PCBI was established in 1997 (Almanac September 30, 1997).