Indiana Genomics Initiative Programs

Genomics

The initiative will build on decades of research and clinical services provided by the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics with:

• the recruitment of a leading geneticist for the position of chairman of the department;

• recruitment of additional faculty members with expertise in bioinformatics, data mining and other analytic techniques, and the study of the relationships of genes and environmental factors in disease;

• development of new and expanded programs in comparative genomics, complex genetic analysis, human genomics, molecular diagnostics, mapping of complex genetic disorders and others; and

• creation of a program for public education about genomics.

The Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics has been training genetics professionals for 35 years and was among the first to offer an M.S. degree in genetic counseling. Department researchers have played leading roles in finding genes for Huntington disease, primary pulmonary hypertension, Prader-Willi syndrome and other diseases, and now are researching genetically complex diseases such as alcoholism, bipolar (manic depressive) illness, hypertension, Alzhei-mer’s disease and osteoporosis.

The department is home to the first university-based repository of DNA samples for research into genetic diseases, used by researchers worldwide.

A world-class genomics effort demands an equally strong bioethics program. As part of Indiana Genomics Initiative, the IU Center for Bioethics is being founded, and negotiations already are underway with an internationally known candidate to serve as director. Additional faculty will be recruited to provide research and expertise in the legal, social and ethical issues raised by genomics research, such as the ethics of genetic testing and concerns over the privacy of genetic data in medical records.

The Center for Bioethics will conduct regular seminars for academic professionals and students as well as for the public, and will draw on existing expertise of IU ethicists in medicine, law, philosophy and the Poynter Center, an endowed ethics research center at IU.

Bioinformatics

The bioinformatics program, which will meld the tools of cutting-edge computer technology with those of molecular biology, will provide a critical link to analyze the data created by the Indiana Genomics Initiative programs. The bioinformatics program will enable the study of the structure and function of DNA and proteins, and the cascades of relationships between them and environmental factors that can translate into good health or disease. The Indiana Genomics Initiative will enable the recruitment of additional faculty and creation of bioinformatics programs in cancer, human and non-human genomes.

It will build on such existing resources as the IU School of Medicine DNA microarray (GeneChip™) facility funded by the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, and current efforts in the development of bioinformatics supercomputer tools.

Medical Informatics

The medical informatics program of the Indiana Genomics Initiative will build on the resources of the Regenstrief Institute and Regenstrief Medical Record System at IU, one of the world’s largest and oldest clinical medical databases.

The Regenstrief Medical Record System contains 25 years of medical records, with 250 million separate clinical observations for more than one million patients. Data is collected from all Indianapolis hospital systems.

Expansion of this resource will provide the clinical information necessary to understand the complex relationships underlying cancer, heart disease and other medical conditions.

Education

Tomorrow’s physicians will need new and continuing training to keep up with the explosion of genetics and genomics information. The initiative will enable the creation of the Indiana Genomics Initiative Scholars Program to enhance recruitment of top undergraduate scholars into graduate and combined-degree programs, as well as the development of additional fellowships in genomics and bioinformatics.

Training

The Indiana Genomics Initiative will create a new graduate certificate program in biotechnology to meet the growing needs of Indiana’s biomedical and health care businesses, as well as those of the university. The program, created in collaboration with local biotechnology employers, will pay tuition for the two-year Biotechnology Certificate Program for graduates who maintain a 3.0 grade-point average and who spend at least two years working in faculty research laboratories