The following are abstracts from the October 2004 grantee meeting for the NHGRI / NIMH program : Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science ( CEGS )

for October 2004 CEGS Grantee Meeting Roger Brent, Molecular Sciences Institute P50 HG02370 Center for Genomic Experimentation and Computation Awarded September 2002 The mission of the Center for Genomic Experimentation and Computation at the Molecular Sciences Institute (MSI) is to combine genomic and computational research to make predictive models of biological systems. Its flagship activity, the “Alpha Project”, was established to model a prototype signal transduction pathway in the budding yeast, S. cerevisiae. The Alpha Project is being conducted at four sites (MSI, Caltech, MIT and PNNL): Molecular Sciences Institute (Berkeley, CA) – Project Core, Experimental biology, Theory, and Computation Bruck Lab (Caltech, CS) – Theory and Computation Endy Lab (MIT, Biology & BE) – Experiment/Model Coupling and Theory Smith Lab (PNNL, Chemistry) – Mass Spec. Development & Application The Alpha Project is a systematic attempt to develop the experimental and computational tools necessary to predict the quantitative behavior of the pheromone pathway in individual yeast cells and in populations of cells over time and in response to defined perturbations. In the process of modeling this pathway, we are learning how to perform certain kinds of multidisciplinary work. We expect that researchers trained at this interface will nucleate laboratories at new sites that will combine experimental and computational science to understand genome function.