Genomics Expert Joins NEIDL
By Vicky Waltz (From BU Today), October 10, 2008
The Boston University Medical Center’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has added to its team of infectious disease experts. James Galagan, a leader in genomics and computational biology, joined the NEIDL faculty this past summer.
The NEIDL is being built with a grant from the National Institutes of Health and will enable researchers to study dangerous infectious diseases that occur naturally or that could be introduced through bioterrorism. The goal of its research is to develop novel diagnostic tests, treatments, and vaccines. Study of the most serious infectious microorganisms will take place in NEIDL’s biosafety level 4 lab. (Laboratories are required to meet one of four safety levels; level 4 is the highest, used to contain potentially life-threatening microorganisms.)
Construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed this year, but research will not begin until a comprehensive environmental risk assessment is completed. A Blue Ribbon Panel of experts appointed by the National Institutes of Health has been meeting since March in response to a National Academy of Sciences concern that an earlier risk assessment conducted by the NIH did not adequately identify worst-case scenarios.
As associate director of the Systems Biology of Infectious Diseases Core at the NEIDL, Galagan will focus his research primarily on the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. By studying the interactions of the bacteria’s genes, proteins, and metabolites, he hopes to create a more precise understanding of TB behavior, which may ultimately help in developing new drugs, vaccines, or therapeutics. The research will be funded by a three-year $750,000 New Faculty Startup Grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency whose purpose is to attract and retain top-notch scientific talent to Massachusetts.
“I’ll be taking a combined genomic and computational approach to try and understand the pathophysiology of tuberculosis at a molecular level,” Galagan says. “By taking a systems biology approach to TB, we hope to reconstruct the molecular circuitry of the bacterium that causes this disease.”
Galagan, a School of Engineering assistant professor of biomedical engineering and a MED assistant professor of microbiology, says he is particularly excited to work in the NEIDL’s biosafety level 4 lab. “There are only a limited number of labs in the world with this sort of capability,” he says, “and being part of such a lab is tremendously exciting for the scientific opportunities it affords.”
“As we complete construction of the NEIDL, it’s exciting to bring in new faculty whose research efforts will determine how successful we are in fulfilling our mission of preventing and curing emerging infectious diseases,” says Mark Klempner, NEIDL director, Medical Campus associate provost for research, and a MED professor. “It is gratifying that so many outstanding scientists, like James Galagan, want to be part of this enterprise.”
Vicky Waltz can be reached at vwaltz@bu.edu.