The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology has hosted numerous research centers over the years, fostering collaboration between researchers at the IGB and external partners, including those of academic, governmental, and industrial nature. The IGB’s centers often work together with multiple institutions and companies, producing interdisciplinary research that is then translated into real-world solutions. Here, we discuss the centers both past and current that the IGB has hosted over the last 15 years.

Scientific pursuits often require examining a problem from different angles in order to gain a complete understanding. Such an undertaking often requires multiple researchers, each with a unique skill set. But what happens when certain voices are ignored over and over, in favor of others? It breeds inequality that weakens our science and our sense of community.

As part of a campus-wide initiative to increase diversity, a collaboration with Fisk University was recently approved for an additional five years of continued financial support from the Office of Executive Associate Chancellor for Administration and University Relations and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCRI). Founder Professor of Physics Jun Song (ACPP) will oversee hands-on bioinformatics, data analysis, and biophysics training for under-represented minority undergraduate students from Fisk University, a minority-serving institution (MSI) in Nashville, Tennessee.

The rise of genomics, the shift from considering genes singly to collectively, is adding a new dimension to medical care; biomedical researchers hope to use the information contained in human genomes to make better predictions about individual health, including responses to therapeutic drugs. A new computational tool developed through a collaboration between the University of Illinois and Mayo Clinic combines multiple types of genomic information to make stronger predictions about what genomic features are associated with specific drug responses.