Nowak Named Director of Scientific Planning for UB Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Norma Jean Nowak, Ph.D., a world-class scientist whose research has contributed directly to the Human Genome Project, as well as to microarray-based approaches to understanding heritable disorders and cancer, has been named director of scientific planning for the University at Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics.

Nowak will direct the integrated experimental component within the center that will be crucial to achieving the goal of creating a world-class center and advancing a bold experimental initiative to complement its ongoing theoretical efforts.

She previously served since 1999 as director of the Microarray and Genomics Facility, a collaborative research lab shared by Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and headquartered at RPCI. Prior to that, she was involved for 14 years in research at RPCI developing physical clone resources for cloning disease genes and mapping the human genome.

Among her major achievements, Nowak has authored landmark papers describing the cloning of several heritable cancer disorders, including a form of Ataxia Telangiectasia (Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome). Her work on the Human Genome Project was published in the genome issue of Nature. Nowak also developed a microarray-based method for identifying numerical differences in DNA between tumor and normal cells and cells from people with genetic disorders. The results of this work were published in Nature Genetics.

Nowak, who has received more than $3 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health, has authored or co-authored more than 50 research articles in leading scientific journals and is associate editor of Physiological Genomics.

UB Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi, announcing Nowak's appointment, noted that she "has an absolutely critical job at the UB Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics -- building the "bio" part of bioinformatics and integrating that with the informatics piece coordinated by director Jeffrey Skolnick.

"She will work with the deans at UB and our academic partners to recruit world-class researchers who can participate in our coordinated systems-biology approach," Capaldi added. "We are delighted she has agreed to lead this effort."

A native of Buffalo, Nowak earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Canisius College, a master's degree in natural sciences from UB and a doctoral degree in experimental pathology from UB, where she received a New York State Predoctoral Fellowship in Cancer Research. Nowak did her post-doctoral training in human genetics at RPCI under the mentorship of Thomas B. Shows, Ph.D. She also has been named an associate professor of biochemistry in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The UB Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics was founded in 2001 by Gov. George E. Pataki, who proposed creation of Centers of Excellence in Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Long Island as part of an effort to leverage the state's expertise in high technologies, attract new businesses and improve the state's economy. To date, it has garnered more than $290 million in support from New York State, the federal government, foundations and corporate partners. UB's research partners in the center are Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.

Bioinformatics uses the power of supercomputers to interpret data in the biological sciences at the molecular level. The center will merge high-end technology, including supercomputing and visualization, with expertise in genomics, proteomics and bioimaging to foster advances in science and health care. It will have an equal emphasis on experimental and computational research with a goal of understanding biological function. Scientists will apply this fundamental information toward understanding common, yet complex, diseases. In turn, new drugs to treat disease will be developed through the collaborative efforts of the center and its strategic partners.

The UB Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics is located temporarily at 901 Washington St. Construction of a 123,500-square-foot structure to house the center is scheduled to begin in August. The new building will be located at Ellicott and Virginia streets within the Buffalo Life Sciences Complex on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.