Energy Department awards $103 million for post-genomi...( The awards are part of the department's...)

The awards are part of the department's new "Genomes to Life" program that plans to take advantage of solutions that nature has already devised to help solve problems in energy production, environmental cleanup and carbon cycling. Through a systems approach to biology at the interface of the biological, physical and computational sciences, the program seeks to understand entire living organisms and their interactions with the environment.

The awards were made before DOE employees in the Forrestal Auditorium this afternoon.

"This innovative research program offers biotechnology solutions that can help us produce clean energy, clean up the environment and make a significant contribution to the President's policy on climate change," Secretary Abraham said. "One could hardly imagine when the Energy Department began the human genome project in the '80s that the resulting information and technologies could yield such diverse benefits." Secretary Abraham made the remarks at an event at Department of Energy headquarters where he presented the lead researchers with ceremonial checks to begin their work.

As part of this initiative, the department's Office of Science requested proposals for large, multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary projects involving both the biological and computational sciences. Scientists have long tried to understand the workings of individual genes or small groups of genes. The new projects will focus on entire networks of genes and even entire biological systems - single-celled organisms at first and later more complex creatures including humans.

This new research is possible because of the information and technology now available to scientists on the human genome and the rapidly growing list of other organisms -- from microbes to plants to worms to mice -- that provide new perspectives on the inner workings of biological systems.

The project's 10-year goal is to make advances in systems biology,
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Contact: Jill Schroeder
202-586-4940
DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
31-Jul-2002

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