Baylor College of Medicine garners research grants to sequence rat genome

HOUSTON--(Feb. 28, 2001)--Baylor College of Medicine today announced two significant research grants that will support the Human Genome Sequencing Center’s effort to determine the DNA sequence of laboratory rats. Baylor is the only medical school involved in the rat-sequencing project.

The grants, a donation from the Robert J. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation and a joint award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute of NIH, total $41 million.

This research is important to the Human Genome Project, since once the sequence of the rat is determined, blocks of human and rat DNA can be compared to help researchers define the parts of the genome that are necessary for all forms of life.

“Seed funding from private philanthropic institutions has proven vital to Baylor’s ability to secure large NIH grants,” said Dr. Ralph D. Feigin, president and CEO of Baylor. “The recent $4.2 million commitment from the Kleberg Foundation provides an excellent example of such leveraging. This private grant helped us obtain a $36.7 million public grant to support the rat genome sequencing project.”

HGSC Director Dr. Richard Gibbs is the principal investigator of the two-year project. His team of scientists will lead the collaborative effort that includes Celera Genomics Group, an Applera Corporation, to determine the genetic makeup of the rat, a mammal often studied in medical and behavioral research.

“We are extremely pleased by these awards, especially the confidence that Dr. Francis Collins, NHGRI director, and Kleberg Foundation’s President Helen Groves have in our abilities to efficiently sequence the rat DNA,” Gibbs said.

According to Groves, "All of our foundation directors who are involved with Helen and Robert Kleberg's legacy are proud of this gift to Baylor College of Medicine, particularly because our founders were so interested in science and the field of genetics. We are very pleased to help further the Foundation's work in this exciting area. It is gratifying to see that Baylor is at the forefront of discovery - in this case, taking on a critical leadership role in the rat-sequencing project."

This announcement comes two weeks after the NHGRI Human Genome Project, the public consortium in which Baylor HGSC played a major role, announced that it had sequenced and published the analysis of its nearly completed DNA sequence map of the human genome.

Celera, a private consortium, also announced the publication of its interpretation of the human sequence.

Rats and humans share many biological and behavioral processes. As a result, the rat is a excellent model for studying human ailments like heart and brain diseases. “By focusing on disease-related genes in both species, and, by comparing the DNA of humans to other animal species, medical research can be improved significantly,” Gibbs said.

“We can design new and more efficient ways to approach human diseases including assessing the predisposition to disease, creating new medicines, and predicting environmental causes of diseases.”

Baylor HGSC, along with Celera, will determine the genetic organization of the rat’s 21 pairs of chromosomes and sequence the order of some 3 billion chemical bases (letters) of DNA. By comparison, the human genome has 23 pairs of chromosomes.

Other institutions participating in the project are Genome Therapeutics Corp., the Institute for Genomic Research, and the University of British Columbia.

Baylor HGSC is in the final phase of the Human Genome Project. It is focusing on chromosomes 3 and 12 and part of X. Also, it is decoding the genomes of the mouse, fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum, a number of bacterial pathogens, as well as full-length cDNA sequencing.

For more than 25 years, the Kleberg Foundation has supported Baylor’s innovative molecular and human genetics research. The foundation has played an integral role in Baylor’s progress, helping it to become one of the national leaders in this field.

Editor’s Note: For additional information, or to view “NIH expands program to sequence rat genome,” visit http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/pa/ratdna.htm