Research Facility Narratives 



Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory 



Introduction 



In September 1987, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) and Los Alamos 

 National Laboratory (LANL) were designated as Human Genome Centers. LBL's 

 response was to initiate an effort that would incorporate at one site all of the 

 elements necessary for successful execution of the project and provide an environment 

 in which integration of emerging concepts, methods, and techniques was immediate. 

 Interdisciplinary efforts are a hallmark of LBL and of the other national laboratories. 

 The unique aspect of the LBL Human Genome Center — the breadth of its activities — is 

 made possible by the juxtaposition of the great variety of LBL talent in several areas 

 (i.e., instrumentation, materials science, and computing technologies) with the large, 

 outstanding biological research communities m the Berkeley and neighboring Bay Area 

 institutions. 



The Center's current activities are concentrated in four areas: 



• construction of a physical map of the human genome, 



• automation of existing physical mapping methods and development of new ones, 



• enhancement of existing technologies for handling and sequencing DNA, and 



• improvement of methods for interpreting and analyzing maps and sequence data. 



Current efforts focus on chromosome 21 — with 50 Mbp, the smallest human 

 chromosome. Three principles guided the development of this research agenda. The 

 first was the realization that new methods, techniques, and instrumentation must be 

 developed to complete the genome project, and that the most effective way to do this 

 would be to work in close physical and intellectual contact with pilot-scale mapping 

 and sequencing efforts. The second principle was that new methods are more easily 

 implemented on relatively small-scale projects. The third guiding principle was the 

 projection that the program would be characterized by the use of newer and more 

 powerful techniques for automated sample handling and biochemical analysis that 

 would be needed for the increasingly larger data-producing projects. 



Thus, development of improved data analysis and management methods was thought to 

 be necessary both to handle the data generated at the LBL Center and to merge and 

 reconcile these results with those from the many other laboratories involved in genome 

 mapping and sequencing. The scientific direction of the Center is reviewed annually by 

 an eight-member advisory committee, whose members include two Nobel laureates and 

 six members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The Center is involved directly 

 with the University of California at Berkeley in a graduate training program in 

 biotechnology; approximately half of this program's faculty are associated with the 

 Center at LBL. 



The unique features of LBL's current research program include the development of 

 totally new DNA-handling procedures and physical mapping methods and the use of 

 yeasts both as a source and as a testing ground of new techniques. 



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