Med Center leads statewide initiative

ndrew Brooks, assistant professor of environmental medicine and director of the Functional Genomics Center, is leading an initiative to give scientists across New York access to microarrays, a technology considered by many as one of the most significant scientific inventions since the microscope.

Called the AMDeC Microarray Resource Center, the project is being funded by a $3.8 million grant from New York State and the Academic Medical Center Development Corporation (AMDeC), a consortium of 39 New York medical schools, academic health centers, and research institutions. The center is the first of its kind in the nation, with 10 universities and medical research institutions providing scientists access to microarray reading facilities.

"By coming together in this way, we will be able to offer New York's researchers and companies something they can't get anywhere else in the world," says Brooks. "There's simply nothing else like this in the marketplace."

A microarray can scan thousands of genes in a cell and reveal which ones are "turned on" and operating inside the cell, allowing scientists to study genetic causes of a disease. While microarrays are relatively cheap--a few hundred dollars each--the computers and robotic equipment needed to "read" them and analyze the data can cost millions, limiting access only to scientists at large universities and pharmaceutical companies.

The goal of this initiative is to broaden access for all scientists to boost the life-science sector of the state's economy. With microarrays, researchers at fledgling biotech start-ups will be able to speed the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic products. Their counterparts at larger pharmaceutical companies, which usually have in-house microarray facilities to support research and development efforts, will be able to tap into the universities for specialized equipment or expertise they may lack. Scientists and students at small and midsized colleges across the state will have full access to the center as well, opening new scientific and commercial possibilities in areas as diverse as plant biology, agriculture, and the environment.

"The Microarray Resource Center will be a tremendous benefit to medical researchers in New York State," says Maria Mitchell, president and CEO of AMDeC. "We believe that expanding access to state-of-the-art technologies will help us attract more scientists and science-based businesses to New York."

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