Bioinformatics hot topic for UB Day
Delegation from UB focuses on center of excellence during visit to Capitol Hill

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
Contributing Editor

The past, present and future of the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics was the topic on Tuesday as faculty members, staff members and administrators from UB, as well as center partners and representatives of the Buffalo business community, traveled to Capitol Hill as part of UB Day in Washington.

The group visited with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rep. Tom Reynolds, Rep. Jack Quinn, Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. John LaFalce, as well as with the chairs of key congressional committees.

"UB Day in Washington allows us to share the progress we've made with the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and to thank our legislative supporters for their outstanding efforts in helping us bring it to fruition," said President William R. Greiner, "as well as giving us an opportunity to outline how continued strong federal support will help us move this initiative forward in the year ahead."

The past year has been marked by major advancements for the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, starting with Gov. George E. Pataki's commitment of $50 million in funding from New York State in December, noted Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi.

She added that the federal funding announced later that month by Clinton and Reynolds provided further momentum for the center, as have more recent developments, such as the partnership with an Irish biopharmaceutical research-and-development institute.

"We are very grateful for the federal support we have received for the project so far and we believe we've made a lot of progress this year and believe that the progress will justify further funding," Capaldi said.

The discussions with key legislators and their staffs involved detailed progress reports on various aspects of the center so that members of the delegation have substantial information on what has been accomplished so far, as well as the center's need for additional federal support.

"We also highlighted a number of our recruitment initiatives, as well as our goals for bringing new companies into Buffalo," said Bruce Holm, senior vice provost.

During the visit on Capitol Hill, members of Congress and their staffs had the chance to "walk through" or "fly through" immersive three-dimensional simulations, including a molecule that is a component of HDL, the "good" cholesterol; a simulation developed by the Center for Computational Research (CCR) of CT data scans, part of a joint project with Children's Hospital to develop real-time, interactive visualizations for surgical applications, and a simulation of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, which will be home to the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics.

In addition to Greiner, Capaldi and Holm, those who traveled to Washington included Russ Miller, director of CCR and Tom Furlani, associate director; Janet Penksa, associate vice president for governmental affairs; Mike Pietkiewicz, director of federal relations, and Jennifer McDonough, vice president for university advancement.