Bioinformatics Lab Receives HSARPA Award
University of Houston, TX—(January, 2005) For the first time in the history of the University of Houston, a research group has been given an award from the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA).
The research group, whose project “Tools for Ultraspecific Probe/Primer Design,” will be part of the Bioinformatics and Assays Development Program, includes the following Faculty participants: Dr.Yuriy Fofanov, Assistant Professor of Computer Sciences, Biology and Biochemistry, and Director of the Bioinformatics Lab; Dr. George Fox, Professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry and Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering; and Dr. Richard C. Willson, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Biology and Biochemistry.
With their award, the researchers will develop a novel methodology for rapidly identifying superior-performance DNA probes/primers for use in detecting emerging or engineered pathogens. The new approach will deliver DNA probes and PCR primers that will have an unprecedented low probability of false positives or confusion by environmental background, and which will resist evasion by threat agent engineering. This exceptional technology will be achieved through the researchers insights into statistical properties of useful probes, primer pairs, and targets.
The award from HSARPA is approximately $300,000 for Phase I of the project, along with approximately $500,000 for Phase II (based on the results of Phase I). HSARPA gave the award based on preliminary results, which were made possible in part through the financial assistance of the Texas Learning & Computation Center (TLC2) who gave $225,000 to help fund the Program’s initial research. Also significant in the success of the program was the University of Houston’s Computer Science Department, whose support and encouragement of the Programs’ investigators contributed greatly to the attainment of their goals.
The final goal of the project will be to improve future detection systems, thus reducing the frequency of false positives and offering robust detection of engineered threats.
For more information go to www.bioinfo.uh.edu
Contact: Rosalinda Mendez
Phone: 713.743.3361
Fax: 713.743.3376
Email: rcmendez@ctlc2.uh.edu
