Relationship with Center for Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics

In the area of computational biology, there may be some overlap between the CS&E Initiative and the Stage 1 Initiative for the Center for Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics. This overlap will permit recruitment of faculty who assist development in both areas. It will be important to follow these principles:

• Joint Review of Faculty Candidates. We propose that appointments overlapping the CS&E and the Center for Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Initiatives be reviewed jointly in order to coordinate recruitment across the campus.
• Avoiding Duplication of Effort. Potentially overlapping positions need to be identified, and the leaders of the two Initiatives should decide jointly what constitutes a duplication of effort and ensure that duplication will not happen.

The CS&E Initiative includes the subarea of computational biology. Computational molecular biology, for example, is closely aligned with bioinformatics, although there is no definition of the two fields that is completely agreed on. Computer Science, ITD, and Mathematics contributed preproposals that include some aspects of computational molecular biology, and ITD contributed a preproposal that includes other aspects of computational biology. Clearly, hiring plans in computational molecular biology should be coordinated as much as possible with hiring plans in bioinformatics. One has to avoid redundant hiring and leverage the efforts of both groups as much as possible. While there is no perfect way to distinguish between the fields of computational molecular biology and bioinformatics, there is a distinction in the kinds of people who might be hired under the two initiatives. In both cases, it is essential that the people we hire be active in developing methodology, and yet be closely aligned with its application in one or more specific biological subareas. However, it is natural to expect that people hired under the Bioinformatics Initiative might have a greater orientation to the biological applications, while the people hired under the CS&E Initiative might have a greater orientation to methodological issues. This reflects both the differences in the flavor of the two initiatives, and the fact that people have to be housed in specific departments and sometimes teach in areas other than their research specialty. Still, it may turn out that faculty hired in bioinformatics may have their primary training outside of biology, while faculty hired in computational biology may have their primary training in biology. The Genomics/Bioinformatics Initiative proposal is not yet completed, and the final direction of that proposal may depend on current hiring efforts in genomics. Hence, it is not clear what hiring decisions will be made in bioinformatics in the short run. It is important, however, that decisions in computational biology under the CS&E Initiative not be held up, waiting for clarity on bioinformatics. Excellent people can be recruited in computational biology who will mesh well with whatever direction the Bioinformatics Initiative ultimately takes.