$8.6M grant expands genome research
By Bill Snyder
April 9, 2010
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has received an $8.6 million federal stimulus grant to create a new collaborative shared resource that officials said will accelerate discoveries in genome science and personalized medicine.
The collaboration, called VANTAGE, for Vanderbilt Technologies for Advanced Genomics, will co-locate and expand four existing core facilities and BioVU, the Medical Center's DNA databank.
The DNA Resources Core and the DNA Sequencing Facility will relocate from Light Hall. The Functional Genomics Shared Resource Core (formerly the Microarray Shared Resource) will move from MRB III.
They will join forces with the Flow Cytometry Core in the basement of Medical Center North.
Once the 12,500 square feet of laboratory space is renovated and modernized, by early summer 2012, it also will provide the first physical home for both the Genome Technology Core and the soon-to-be-installed robotic store for BioVU, supported by a separate federal grant.
“VANTAGE will enable technical synergy, energize multi-disciplinary collaborations and accelerate discovery in clinical and basic science across the institution,” said Susan Wente, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for Research and the grant's principal investigator.
“This grant allows us to foster larger and more innovative research into genomics,” added Jonathan Haines, Ph.D., director of the Center for Human Genetics Research, which currently houses the DNA Resources Core and BioVU.
The two-year grant is the largest awarded to Vanderbilt University by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. To date, the NIH has provided $81.6 million to support 179 different stimulus grants led by more than 160 Vanderbilt scientists.
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