Recognizing the growing importance of computational and information sciences to biology, the National Institutes of Health is establishing a new Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CBCB). The new center is designed to support research and training in areas that merge biology with computer sciences, engineering, mathematics, and physics.

"The future of the biological sciences will be driven by advances in bioinformatics and computational biology," says Marvin Cassman, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The new center, to be located with the NIGMS, will handle this institute's projects.

While the new center will primarily focus on developing and coordinating bioinformatics programs within NIGMS, "There's a lot going on that has strong computational elements" throughout NIH, Cassman says. "A large number of these [research activities] will stay where they are within the divisions--cell biology and biophysics, genetics and developmental biology, and so on. But we want...

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