Introducing The LSI

We are now in the midst of a transformational change in science. The sequencing of various genomes has revealed to us the blueprints of life, and has yielded immediate and imminent insights that have already improved our lives in ways the early giants of molecular biology could not have conceived. We routinely screen for deleterious genes so that certain diseases can be avoided or better treated. We are designing drugs like Gleevec and Iressa that target illnesses where the problems arise, at the genetic lesions. With genetics and genomics research, as well as the availability of extraordinary computational tools, we are generating large sets of data that allow us to compare and contrast everything about different cells, organs or species, and explore molecules or ensembles of molecules through different levels of biological complexity. This merger of biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics has led to a paradigm shift in discovery, and generated a new way to attack problems on a larger scale.

This new "systems biology" brings with it new challenges, most notably the challenge of collaboration. Needed now are new vernaculars that allow scientists from different disciplines to communicate across barriers through a language of cooperation.

How will we respond to this challenge? Five years ago, the Regents of the University of Michigan endorsed a grand vision - to put this University on the leading edge of the biological revolution by creating the Life Sciences Institute. Understanding that progress in the prevention and treatment of major diseases will require the collective insights of researchers from various disciplines, the LSI was intended as a hub for collaboration among outstanding scientists focusing together on biological problems of importance. The Institute seeks to break down the barriers between disciplines, and to harness the strength and tradition of academic excellence at the University of Michigan by forging links between the health sciences, basic sciences, engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. We hope that the synergies resulting from this blending of diverse skills and approaches, and between wise veterans and energetic junior researchers, will yield profound insights into the complexity of life that lies between the genome and the organism.

I am very pleased to share this first bulletin of the Institute. I hope its pages will convey some of the excitement and energy that permeates our building each day. In subsequent issues, I will share my developing thoughts about this unique endeavor and the challenges of collaborative science.

-- Alan Saltiel