ASU – Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) Partnership:
Advancing Biomedicine and Healthcare One Gene at a Time
“Our more sophisticated understanding of biological and chemical processes at the genetic and molecular levels signals a new relationship to nature, and the new molecular technologies signal the evolution of entire new industries.”
– ASU President Michael Crow, 2005
The extensive collaborative relationships between ASU and TGen hold unprecedented opportunities for biomedical research and human health. As world-class research institutes, ASU and TGen have embraced the collaborative spirit to meet the genetic and molecular challenges that are transforming medicine and the life sciences. Over two-thirds of TGen’s faculty members have submitted joint extramural grant proposals with ASU faculty and staff. Other partnering initiatives include the maintenance of our joint cluster supercomputer facility, shared educational programs and TGen’s assistance in recruiting ASU senior faculty hires.
Recently, a state-wide bioscience group including TGen, the University of Arizona, and ASU were awarded an NIH CTSA planning grant to further develop statewide collaborations, programs, and research projects focused on translational science. ASU’s intellectual fusion with TGen also includes strategic and business partnerships with ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business, Fulton School of Engineering, ASU Technopolis, the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, the Sandra Day O’ Connor College of Law, and American Indian Studies. In 2005 and 2006, ASU Technolopolis and TGen co-chaired Commercializing Arizona Life Sciences – an annual technology forum to advance innovations in the biosciences.
Biodesign and TGen form joint Center for Systems and Computational Biology
To help usher in a new era of molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine, ASU's Biodesign Institute and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have teamed up to establish the Center for Systems and Computational Biology.
One of the first of its kind in the nation, the new center will accelerate the pace of biomedical research, directly impact patient care and provide new funding opportunities for both TGen and ASU.
George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute, and Jeffrey Trent, president and scientific director of TGen, will oversee the center. Systems biology is an emerging science that requires highly-integrated efforts between biologists, physicians, chemists, engineers and computer scientists. It combines "wet lab" research with "dry lab" computational technologies to help identify the molecular pathways relevant to disease. The resulting benefits to medicine may include better clinical trials, personalized therapies and improved diagnostics, drugs and vaccines.
"Much of our focus at Biodesign is in trying to understand biological function and the significance of disease at the most fundamental level: its molecular circuitry," said Poste. "This knowledge has enormous implications for every aspect of medicine, as well as other fields of science."
"At TGen, our focus is entirely on developing earlier diagnostics and smarter treatments," said Trent. "This new collaboration leverages the fast-growing field of computational biology to speed research and directly impact patients. Additionally, this partnership opens the door to new research and funding avenues for both TGen and ASU."
