16-Jul-2004
Press Release

Bioinformatics Resource Center at TIGR to Focus on Biothreat Pathogens

TIGR has signed a five-year, $21.1 million contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to establish and maintain a new national Bioinformatics Resource Center for the study of pathogens that are considered biothreat agents or are associated with emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases.

July 16, 2004

Rockville, MD — The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) has signed a contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to establish and maintain a new national Bioinformatics Resource Center for the study of pathogens that are considered biothreat agents or are associated with emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases.

Under the five-year, $21.1 million contract, TIGR — an international leader in the field of microbial genomics and the bioinformatics associated with genomic analysis — will create and curate a genomics database to provide a user-friendly point of access for the community of scientists who are investigating a number of important pathogens.

The Bioinformatics Resource Center (BRC) database will include genomic sequence data and other information on several pathogens, including the bacteria that cause anthrax, botulism, tularemia, and melioidosis. TIGR's bioinformatics teams will do in-depth analysis of the pathogens as well as conduct detailed studies of variations among microbial strains.

The BRC team is headed by Principal Investigator Owen White, TIGR's Bioinformatics Director, and Co-Investigator Steven Salzberg, TIGR's Senior Director of Bioinformatics.

"Reliable bioinformatics data is essential for a wide range of scientific research that seeks to improve our defenses again emerging infectious diseases and biothreat pathogens," said TIGR's president, Claire M. Fraser. "We look forward to working in partnership with NIAID to help meet the needs of the infectious disease research community for genomic data and analysis."

TIGR received the largest single award of the six NIAID contracts issued so far for the establishment of national Bioinformatics Resource Centers, which will cooperate in the exchange of data models, databases, software applications and tools, and data standards.