Collins Lab Blog

Centered

Meet a new (to me) entity, the New York Genome Center.

Cornell is one of the charter members, the board of directors of this new entity is about as gold-plated as it gets. The fascinating question to me is what exactly is this new enterprise? Is it an academic institution? Is it a medical patient service facility? Is it a technology development center? Is is a commercial enterprise? Will it educate? Will its output be accessible to the public? Will it inspire and innovate?

There is a very interesting talking head video with Thomas Maniatis of Columbia where he explains some of the thinking behind the center.

Thomas Maniatis, PhD / New York Genome Center

 

One particular phrase from this video I found especially resonant: “There will be a very significant change in the structure of academic and medical research because of genomics.”

Here Maniatis is referring to the large collaborations and infrastructure that is necessary for advances in human genomics.

I think it is also possible that there will be significant changes in the structure of academic and medical research for additional reasons, especially as we seek to understand the best use of federal money to support scientific and medical progress. Perhaps institutions such as these, built from the ground up and unburdened by tradition, will play an important part in the future scientific landscape.

 

 

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