What is the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology?

                    Leslie Leinwand, Director

                                    15 February. 2006

Background:

The CIMB is an initiative at CU first proposed in 2001 and formally started in 2003. Its mission is to foster new research, teaching, and technology development at the interface of life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, computational sciences, and engineering. The focus of this initiative is to understand and manipulate living cells and control cellular behavior through a global analysis of molecular events using methods that span a continuum from basic to applied research. The area referred to as "molecular biotechnology" includes new methods in genomics, proteomics, molecular and cellular imaging, biophysics, mathematical analysis, materials engineering and chemical synthesis, which are leading the way towards fundamental changes in experimental sciences.

Goals:

The goals of CIMB are to maintain scientific competitiveness at CU, by enhancing core research areas at the forefront of molecular technologies applied to biosciences, creating a magnet for attracting and retaining outstanding students and faculty, bridging disciplines by integrating research and teaching and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations, and supporting biotechnology development along the front range.

Vision:

The CIMB envisions a scientific infrastructure which favors cross-fertilization of ideas, achieved through the following strategies: (1) Strategic faculty hiring in key areas chosen to enhance existing strengths in critical technologies and develop new areas that bridge disciplines. (2) Educational program development in integrative sciences, including new training activities, coursework, and research conferences that facilitate communication of interdisciplinary sciences. (3) Multi-investigator grant proposals to support collaborative research, core facilities and integrative teaching programs. (4) Private fundraising to support interdisciplinary research.

Task Force:

A task force representing faculty in 8 departments in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Engineering has been meeting biweekly since April 2003 to implement these goals. Departments currently represented include Applied Mathematics, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Computer Sciences, Evolutionary and Ecological Biology, Integrative Physiology, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, and Physics, with some members jointly appointed in JILA, NIST, and LASP. Outreach to other departments is anticipated as the initiative expands.

Progress:

Progress in all four benchmarks has been evidenced by new faculty hiring in cutting edge fields, including bioinformatics and computational biology, biomaterials for tissue regeneration, biosensors for single cell imaging, microfluidics devises for nanofabrication, and chemical genomics. Already, successful scientific and educational program development has been achieved in bioinformatics, with the development of a Bioinformatics Supergroup research conference, undergraduate and graduate currricula in mathematical modeling and computational biology, and development of a computational core facility for bioinformatics. New grants to support educational program development have been submitted or are planned for submission to HHMI/NIH-NIBIB, NSF, and NIH-NIGMS. Multi-investigator grant proposals facilitated by CIMB and worth $18.6 M have been awarded or approved for funding since April 2003. Finally, this unique, interdisciplinary effort has attracted private donations from the Jane and Charlie Butcher family to support seed grants for interdisciplinary research, and from Larry Gold to support the development and implementation of CIMB goals.

Building:

In 2005, the Chancellor of the CU-Boulder campus approved a feasibility plan for the construction of a new biotechnology research building, scheduled for occupancy in 2009. The building will house 24 laboratories projected for this program, including current and future hires in CIMB, as well as 38 laboratories currently rostered in the Departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Chemical & Biological Engineering. Tailored to facilitate interdisciplinary research, this building will represent a new construction concept for this university, to break down existing silos and promote integration of scientific research.