Commission negotiates 19.4 million euro contract on genomics
The European Commission has begun negotiations with the European bioinformatics institute and a number of other European research centres to develop the next generation of bioinformatics tools which will be used to unravel the secrets of genomic material. The consortium, led by the European bioinformatics institute, which is part of the European molecular biology laboratory (EMBL) will develop cutting edge bioinformatic systems (basically computer technologies designed specifically for biological research). The aim is to find faster and more comprehensive ways than currently exist to decipher the meaning of the rapidly growing amount of genomic data, which has surged recently with the climax of the human genome project. 'It is imperative for Europe to ensure its competitiveness in this field if we do not want to become a 'customer' for technologies developed elsewhere and a 'consumer' of products and services provided by our competitors,' said Peter Kind, acting Director of health research at the European Commission. This is the first tangible result of Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin's initiative on 'Genomes for human health', launched less than six months ago, and it is the largest grant ever to be issued by the European Commission in support of bioinformatics. 'In the framework of the European Research Area, this project will permit our European bioinformatics institute and collaborators to develop powerful new informatics tools that are vital in the post-genomic era,' said Fotis Kafatos, Director-General of the EMBL