Profession Notes

Brian Boom, formerly vice president for botanical science and Pfizer curator of botany at the New York Botanical Society, now presides over the All Species Foundation (ASF) as its founding CEO. ASF (www.all-species.org), based in San Francisco, is spearheading an initiative to catalog all species on Earth in the next 25 years (R. Lewis, "Inventory of life," The Scientist, 15[15]:1, July 23, 2001). Boom, appointed to the post in August, says the position is a dream job for him and he looks to use the talents he has acquired working in botany for over 20 years. Eager to begin work and conquer what he considers "the Holy Grail of organismal biology," he says the project should provide fresh eyes to a field steeped in tradition and hopefully be the progenitor of new tools, technologies, and processes used in taxonomy from the field to the lab. Boom avowed that the only agenda the ASF promotes is one of free sharing of information for humanity and general knowledge and hopes that the developments made from this project contribute to the advancements in other fields. Undeterred by naysayers who feel the immense project has set the bar too high, Boom feels that this project will only gain momentum and energize people as the ASF gains greater exposure.

Courtesy of the National Human Genome Research Institute, bioinformatics research on the mouse genome just got a boost. NHGRI awarded The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, a grant totaling more than $35 million over five years to support the Mouse Genome Database (www.informatics.jax.org). In an effort to make the mouse more useful as a model system for understanding human biology and disease, the MGD provides user-friendly graphical displays and interfaces to an integrated database. Data represented in the MGD include genes and nomenclature (see following item); sequences, functional annotations; maps and mapping data; homologous genes with human, rat, and other mammals; polymorphisms; variants; and phenotype and disease models. A spokesperson said the NHGRI grant, the largest the Maine institution has ever received, essentially doubles the bioinformatics program at the Jackson Laboratory.

Researchers are clearing up nomenclature used in the Mouse Genome Database (MGD), Mouse Tumor Biology Database (MTB), and Rat Genome Database, three databases at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. A Mouse Phenome Database (MPD) has also been set up to more completely characterize inbred strains, in collaboration with the MGD. Associate staff scientist Carol Bult says MGD is considered the standard source for mouse and allele nomenclature, and that the lab works with the International Committee for Standardized Nomenclature for Mice as well as with the Human Gene Organization Nomenclature Committee to name genes in accordance with their function, phenotype, motifs, and domains. Almost 12,000 genes and 2,806 mutant alleles warrant agreeing common names. "We coordinate our naming of mouse genes with the rat community, and the human community, to try to establish some degree of consistency in the nomenclature used for these model organisms," comments Bult. At present, there is no effort to develop common terms for databases of other model organism databases, such as those for yeast or zebrafish, Bult says. At Jackson, researchers identify and compile synonyms from the mouse literature, track nomenclature changes through time, and arrive at what is hoped will be a standard lexicon, to be used by the international community. Bult says, "A text-mining approach may or may not be able to pick up all of the biology associated with a gene because there are these nomenclature changes over time. So you're never sure if we're talking about the same thing. That's one of the [goals] we're focusing on, to be sure we're all talking about the same thing."

Even in the dog days of August, venture capital investments in young companies create new opportunities for scientists, according to executives at five companies with new cash infusions. Cognetix, a Salt Lake City-based biopharmaceutical firm that grew out of research at the University of Utah, recently landed $17 million. CEO Brian Anderson says one clinical project is under way at the company and others are moving into the clinical stage soon. Cognetix is developing treatments for cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous system disorders. Staffing plans are still under review, Anderson says, but three or four research posts will open up this year at the 25-person firm, with more new jobs likely next year. Automated Cell of Pittsburgh picked up $2.6 million in new funding. While the money is not earmarked for new jobs, the 13-person proteomics firm has one opening. Discovery Genomics of Minneapolis, which started out with research from the University of Minnesota, took in a $3 million investment from Techne Corp., and is already interviewing scientists to add to its five-person staff. A $2.5 million funding round for MolecularWare of Cambridge, Mass., will pay for a "slight" expansion of the 10-person team, says CEO Richard Kivel, but most of the money will be spent on selling MolecularWare's bioinformatics product. Toronto-based Integrative Proteomics is shopping for an East Coast site, says spokesperson Joanne Harack. A 45-person company, Integrative Proteomics raised $25 million recently and will be spending on research and development as well as expansion, Harack says.