Fields Stanley, Nickerson Deborah A, Waterston Robert H, Ramsey Paul G
Genome Sciences and Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195-7730, USA.
Acad Med. 2006 Oct;81(10):882-5. doi: 10.1097/01.ACM.0000238198.25633.e0.
The availability of genome sequences from a multitude of organisms, which began about a decade ago, has had enormous impact throughout the biomedical sciences. These sequence data have changed the way research studies are carried out and have led to the explosive growth of computational biology as an approach to analyze biological processes and evolution. In medicine, the completion of the human genome sequence has illuminated the function of many genes, facilitated the correlation of mutant genes to disease phenotypes, and provided a basis for the study of human variation. At the University of Washington, the two academic departments whose overall programs were most centrally affected by the sequencing revolution were Genetics and Molecular Biotechnology. These departments were fused in 2001 to form the Department of Genome Sciences in order to best exploit these developments and to become a prototype for the basic biomedical science department of the future. The department's goal is to address leading-edge questions in biology and medicine through the application of genetics, genomics, proteomics, and computational approaches to the increasing collection of known genome sequences and their encoded products. The authors review the events that led up to the founding of this department and discuss the initiatives that have been undertaken, which include the recruitment of faculty, the establishment of a new interdisciplinary graduate program, the continued development of an outreach program, and the construction of a building to house the department. Lessons learned in crafting this department are also discussed, as well as how these might apply to other medical schools.
大约十年前开始的来自众多生物体的基因组序列的可得性，在整个生物医学科学领域产生了巨大影响。这些序列数据改变了研究的开展方式，并导致计算生物学作为一种分析生物过程和进化的方法呈爆发式增长。在医学领域，人类基因组序列的完成阐明了许多基因的功能，促进了突变基因与疾病表型的关联，并为人类变异的研究提供了基础。在华盛顿大学，其总体项目受测序革命影响最核心的两个学术部门是遗传学和分子生物技术学。2001年，这两个部门合并组建了基因组科学系，以便最好地利用这些进展，并成为未来基础生物医学科学系的典范。该系的目标是通过将遗传学、基因组学、蛋白质组学和计算方法应用于不断增加的已知基因组序列及其编码产物的集合，来解决生物学和医学领域的前沿问题。作者回顾了导致该系成立的事件，并讨论了已开展的举措，包括教师招聘、新的跨学科研究生项目的设立、外展项目的持续发展以及用于该系办公的大楼建设。还讨论了在组建这个系过程中吸取的经验教训，以及这些经验教训如何应用于其他医学院校。
