The grand opening of the Center for Human Genetics yesterday coincided fittingly with the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix by James Watson and Francis Crick and with last week's announcement that the sequencing of the human genome was complete.
The $41 million center, the first within the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, focuses on the genetic origins of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and autism, among others. While the official opening celebration took place yesterday, the center's 160 researchers, professors, physicians and other employees moved in last November.
The celebration began with an introduction from Huntington Willard, director of IGSP, who commented on how far genomics has come in merely 50 years.
The revolution in genomics, he emphasized, has real-world implications that necessitate a socially responsible reaction.
"It puts us in a position to play a significant role in genome sciences but [also] be accurately aware of genome policy," Willard said.
The CHG's motivation is targeted toward the field of medicine, which requires the mapping of specific genes for the purposes of diagnosing diseases.
In her keynote address, Margaret Pericak-Vance, director of CHG, delineated the three types of diseases that exist - monogenic diseases that stem from mutations in a single gene, environmental diseases such as influenza or hepatitis and complex diseases such as Alzheimer's, autism and cancers that arise from multigenic mutations. The CHG plans to focus its sequencing efforts on complex diseases.
Willard and Pericak-Vance pointed toward many issues that a sequenced human genome raises, including whether genomes can be patented and the use of genomic information by health insurance companies. These concerns are at the heart of what the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy - another center within the IGSP - will tackle. This interdisciplinary feature of IGSP showcases its uniqueness in being able to address all facets of an issue.
"The map of the genome has created more problems than anticipated," Pericak-Vance said, adding that IGSP was created to help solve these problems.
Along with CHG and GELP, the IGSP is comprised of three additional centers - the Center for Models of Human Disease, which is slated to open soon; the Center for Genome Technology; and the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.
Both Willard and Michael Conneally, director of the hereditary diseases and studies division in the department of molecular genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, highlighted Pericak-Vance's many contributions to genomics, including a new technique for mapping genes.
With the center's new home, the 120,000-square-foot Genome Sciences Research Building I, Pericak-Vance is looking forward to a more collaborative environment than before, when CHG was spread throughout the Medical Center.
"The CHG [will foster] the notion that human genomics is a team sport," Willard said.
Additionally, the new facility houses the Genomic Research Laboratory Core, centered around biomedical research on the nature of genetic disease and will accommodate expansion needs from the School of Medicine.
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