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For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu

 

 

Associate Professor David R. Nelson of

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

 Receives $211,212 Grant for Genome Annotation

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            Memphis, Tenn. (May 25, 2012) – David R. Nelson, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has received a grant totaling $211,212 from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  The award will fund Dr. Nelson and his research team’s efforts to design better methods for finding and assembling genes from newly sequenced genomes.  The study titled, "EAGER: Improved Computational Tools for Plant Gene Assembly and Synteny Detection,” entails a two-year collaborative analysis with The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tokyo, Japan.  EAGER stands for Early Grant for Exploratory Research, a category of NSF grants.

            The ability to perform DNA sequencing to determine the order of the letters AGC and T in an organism’s chromosomes has exceeded the ability to carefully identify and assemble each gene.  A human genome has 3.2 billion letters of DNA in its chromosomes and about 20,000 genes.  By the end of this year, new sequencing machines will be able to categorize a human genome for about $1,000 in less than one day.  Currently, there are plans to sequence the genomes of 10,000 vertebrate animals, 5,000 insects and 1,000 plants in the coming years. 

Dr. Nelson and his research team are focused on developing better methods to find and organize the correct order of a gene’s protein coding parts, called exons.

“Our research is critical since there are already millions of known genes and many millions more will soon be available,” said Dr. Nelson.  “There are too many genes for people to inspect and assemble manually.  My collaborator in Japan, Dr. Osamu Gotoh, is an expert in writing computer programs to assemble genes.  I have manually assembled genes from dozens of genomes from plants, animals, fungi and microbes,  and named more than 17,000 genes.  Together, Dr. Gotoh and I will seek ways to make existing computer algorithms better at gene assembly.

In the future, this research could be beneficial for discovering the genes and their protein products that make valuable pharmaceuticals such as anti-cancer drugs and antibiotics, many of which come from plants.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…"  With an annual budget of about $6.9 billion (FY 2010), NSF is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities.  In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.  For more information, visit www.nsf.gov.

            As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrated its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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