University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: May 8, 2003

By DONNA LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor

A world-class scientist, born and raised in Buffalo and intimately acquainted with the area's challenges and charisma, is bringing the mystique and hype of the latest buzzword—bioinformatics—down to earth.

Norma Nowak, recently named director of scientific planning for UB's Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, described many of the practical applications of bioinformatics—bridging the theoretical and computational with the biological—as well as outlining the research and recruitment goals of the center at Tuesday's meeting of the Faculty Senate.

Nowak also demolished many of the tired old criticisms of Buffalo, "the mistake at the end of the lake," with a quick volley of its research accomplishments, which included mention of the renown Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute and Roswell Park Cancer Institute, which she pointed out, has an outstanding genetics department.

"I was born in Buffalo. I grew up here and no matter what I tried to do to get out of this town, like Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life," I'm still here," she jokingly told senators.

Nowak received both master's and doctoral degrees from UB, in natural sciences and experimental pathology, respectively, She is part of the legacy of the Human Genome Project—her research was published in Nature two years ago—and she is a major contributor to the development and application of microarray-based technologies for comparative analyses at the genomic and transcriptional levels.

"Over the years, you've probably read in the news about the Human Genome Project and what you probably don't know is that there was a lab at Roswell Park that made the DNA libraries used to sequence the human genome for the project," said Nowak, who also has been appointed an associate professor of biochemistry in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

"Seventy percent of the sequence that was published came from two individuals in Western New York—as more and more sequences are generated, that fact gets diluted," she added.

In a brief, personal moment, she also told senators why she stayed in Buffalo. Her husband succumbed to Hodgkin's lymphoma, leaving her, at age 35, a widow with two young children. "It was enough of a reason to stay at Roswell Park and try to figure this (cancer) out." Roswell Park was the place, she explained, where bioinformatics became a daily part of her life and why she believes a career in bioinformatics is so important-it will help identify the genes that cause cancer.

In fact, Nowak identified several cancer chromosomes on a slide during her presentation, pointing out a "broken chromosome for cancer," which helped the laypersons in the audience to see the kind of research going on at the center.

Nowak said she hopes to see students pursue interdisciplinary degrees in computer science, math and biology—the cross-disciplinary training she said is needed to work in the field of bioinformatics.

"We have science and the educational setting to train the students who can then stay here (in Buffalo) and actually have a life," Nowak said. The goal, she said, is to integrate the center with existing programs on campus and utilize UB faculty. The center also will incorporate the recruitment practices of departments and schools at the university, she said.

"We have a lot of scientists who clearly are outstanding in their own right," she noted, adding that integrating the center's work with the larger scientific community in Buffalo also is essential. "The key to that is money, which is why we have to integrate this with the business community. We're identifying community leaders to help put that piece together," Nowak said.

Improving biomedical science, as well as the daily quality of life for human beings—making strawberries sweeter, controlling pests, improving air quality—will be possible more quickly because of bioinformatics, said Nowak.

"It's really all about looking at what goes wrong with a cell from the DNA level all the way to the protein level and seeing if you can fix it. We're not at the fixing stage yet, but the goal is to identify what's wrong," she said.

Identifying differences in tumor cells that may not have been visible or expressed in conventional methods of testing cells, such as growing cell lines, but are identifiable with microarray technology is crucial to understanding, for example, the rapid growth of certain kinds of cancers," explained Nowak. Understanding the effects of drugs at the genetic level also will lead to more improved drugs and drug delivery to treat diseases.

In describing bioinformatics and its importance to scientists, Nowak encouraged senators to "think of a science lab where you have all these pieces of a quilt; bioinformatics is the thread that sews them all together. Once you put the thread through the cloth, you have this beautiful quilt."

The process of data analyses of the DNA of just one human without the advances of computational scientists working in the field of bioinformatics, said Nowak, was akin to taking an issue of The Buffalo News, putting it in a paper shredder and trying to reassemble it.

Nowak described Jeffrey Skolnik, the center's director, as a "brilliant, brilliant mathematician," and said she enjoys working with him.

In other news at Tuesday's meeting—the last of the academic year for the senate—senators passed a resolution requiring students who resign from more than five courses during their academic study at UB to receive counseling from an academic advisor before further resignations are approved. Students may resign from one or more of their courses at any time before the midpoint of an academic term; such courses will appear on the student's record with a grade of "R" (resignation), indicating that the student dropped the course in a timely manner.