Two distinguished scientists to lead Life Sciences Institute

EDITORS: Photos available on request.

ANN ARBOR—Lee C. Bollinger announced today that he has selected two prominent scientists—a biochemist from the U-M and a cell biologist from the University of California, San Diego—to serve as lead scientists and co-directors of the U-M’s new Life Sciences Institute. The appointments will be presented to the U-M Board of Regents for approval at their Oct. 19-20 meeting.

 Dixon Pending Regental approval, Jack E. Dixon, currently the U-M’s Minor J. Coon Professor of Biological Chemistry and chair of biological chemistry in the U-M Medical School, will begin his new position on  

 Scott D. Emr, professor of cellular and molecular medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will become co-director on  Emr 

“We are very fortunate, indeed, to have as directors two great scientists who possess the personal qualities to attract and support other great scientists at our University,” said Bollinger. “They will be outstanding as scientific leaders and co-directors of the Institute, maintaining their own excellent research efforts while jointly building the new institute from the ground up.”

Currently under construction and scheduled for completion in spring 2003, the Institute building will contain laboratories and offices for 30 science faculty—jointly appointed in academic departments—plus postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and staff. Financial support for the Institute will come from externally sponsored research, private gifts and a $130 million fund established by the University. Anticipated construction costs for the 240,000-square-foot Institute building are $96 million. Of the total $226-million budgeted for construction and operations, $150-million came from the U-M Health System with the balance from other University sources.

“Today’s scientific advances take place on the edges of disciplines,” Dixon said. “We want to bring together people on the cutting edges of different fields to create something new and dynamic, which will be a catalyst for interaction between medicine, engineering and the life sciences on the U-M campus.”

“Our plan is to build a broad research program in chemical biology, genomics, proteomics, and molecular genetics where faculty can work at the interfaces between chemistry, biology, engineering and computer sciences,” Emr said. “We expect to hire faculty in areas that will complement the U-M’s existing research strengths. In addition, we hope to provide many opportunities for research sabbaticals and visiting scientist appointments.”

“The research programs of the Life Sciences Institute will utilize new technologies and computational methods to study genes, proteins, and other molecules and their roles in health and disease, with an eye toward clinical translation to achieve advances in medical care and public health,” said Gilbert S. Omenn, U-M executive vice president for medical affairs. “These applications require attention to ethical and policy dimensions of medicine and public health, as well.”

A prominent cell biologist and molecular geneticist, Emr joined the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and was named a Howard Hughes investigator in 1991. He is vice chair and a member of the executive committee of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at UCSD. Emr’s research focuses on the structure and function of intracellular compartments that perform essential biochemical reactions all cells need to survive. His work has led to the discovery of components of the machinery that sorts and delivers proteins to these compartments. Prior to UCSD, Emr was on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1976 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1981.

Dixon joined the U-M faculty in 1991 coming from Purdue University where he was the Harvey W. Wiley Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry. He served as chair of the faculty advisory committee for the U-M’s Life Sciences Initiative. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he is a pioneer in research on the structure and function of the protein tyrosine phosphatases and their important role in cellular signaling. He also has made fundamental contributions to scientific understanding of hormone biosynthesis and processing. Dixon received a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1966 and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1971.

The U-M Life Sciences Institute will be deeply involved in the State of Michigan Life Sciences Corridor—a $1 billion, 20-year project to invest in and promote life sciences research and business development, which is administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Institute faculty will work closely with researchers at the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and Michigan companies on Corridor-sponsored projects that will advance life science, help enhance health care, and foster economic development in Michigan. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers trained at the U-M Life Sciences Institute will help provide the skills and expertise needed by Michigan’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

There also will be opportunities for U-M undergraduate students to work alongside Institute scientists in state-of-the-art laboratories, according to Dixon. “I learned how to do science by working in a laboratory at UCLA when I was an undergraduate,” Dixon said. “It was the defining moment of my undergraduate experience and one that I hope we can share with many U-M students.”

“The U-M is widely renowned as a leader in the integration of research and education and in the promotion of interdisciplinary work,” said Nancy E. Cantor, U-M provost. “The Life Sciences Institute will help cement the ever-increasing number of linkages and collaborative activities that bring together faculty and students from across the University who seek to explore the scientific basis of life and the human and cultural impact of these new discoveries. The U-M is uniquely positioned to develop a research institute for the life sciences that exemplifies a multidisciplinary, multicultural, vertically integrative approach to the generation and sharing of knowledge.”

The Institute is a major component of the U-M Life Sciences Initiative—a campuswide effort to coordinate and expand research and teaching in such rapidly expanding fields as genomics, chemical and structural biology, cognitive neuroscience, biomedical engineering, biocomplexity and bioinformatics, as well as other areas of study that are influenced by the life sciences.

Additional information on the Initiative and the Institute may be found at: http://www.lifesciences.umich.edu.

Lee C. BollingerJack E. DixonScott D. EmrGilbert S. OmennNational Academy of SciencesLife Sciences CorridorNancy E. Cantor