Center for Genomics and Systems Biology

Center for Genomics & Systems Biology, New York University
Click on image to see tour of
Center for Genomics & Systems Biology

Mission Statement: The mission of the Center for Genomics & Systems Biology is to define how regulatory networks operate and how they have evolved to generate diversity across species. For this work, we use approaches that span systems biology, comparative functional genomics & bioinformatic analysis focusing on model organisms and phylogenetically related species. The research involves the combined skills of genomicists, bioinformaticians, systematists, and evolutionary biologists all working together. The genomic & bioinformatic faculty in our center are engaged in collaborative projects with scientists at NYU's Courant Institute of Math & Computer Sciences, The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories (CSHL), as well as collaborators at Harvard and Rockefeller University. The unique intellectual synergisms brought about by this collaborative genomic consortium group, enables us to develop unique approaches to address questions of comparative functional genomics.


Center for Genomics & Systems Biology Faculty

Genomic & Bioinformatic Faculty: NYU's Center for Genomics & Systems Biology currently houses 10 faculty members listed below. In addition, we are currently recruiting additional faculty for a total of 16 genomic faculty in the Center from NYU Biology plus 2-3 joint faculty positions between NYU Courant and NYU Biology.

Faculty Search Advertisement
We currently have a faculty search for multiple positions. Below is a copy of the advertisement which appears in Science (Sept 11).The search for 2009-2010 is now closed.

click here to PDF link for advertisement




Microbes Patrick Eichenberger Genomics of spore formation

David Gresham
Evolutionary Genomics
C. elegans Fabio Piano Phenomics & Networks
Drosophila Mark Siegal Evolution of Sex determination
Plants Ken Birnbaum Cellular Genomics
Gloria Coruzzi Plant Systems Biology
Michael Purugganan Plant Evolutionary Genomics
Bioinformatics Francesca Chiaromonte Statistical Genomics
Richard Bonneau Systems Biology
Kris Gunsalus Developmental Systems Biology
Edo Kussell Computational Biology

Click here for a group photo.

Genome Labs and Core Facilities:
Click here for a Virtual Tour of NYU Center for Genomics & Systems Biology (.mov)

NYU Center for Genomics & Systems Biology: Endless Possibilities (.mov)

Click here for a presentation on the research taking place at the NYU Center for Genomics & Systems Biology (.ppt)

 

The Genome Center labs include four components:

GENOMICS
 1. Genomic Laboratories
 2. Genome Core Facility
  • Imaging Facility
  • DNA Facility
  • Robotics Facility
  • Cellular & Phenotyping Facility

BIOINFORMATICS
 3. Bioinformatics Suites & Cluster
 4. Bioinformatics Supercomputer

Genomic Laboratories: The genome labs and core facilities in NYU's Center for Genomics & Systems Biology currently occupy 16,000 sq. ft in Brown Building (7th & 8th floors) with the entrance on 24-26 Waverly Place. Each floor of the genome center occupies approximately 8,000 Sq ft., which includes "open plan" laboratories with space for four PIs plus 47 researchers (wet bench plus bioinformatics), plus rooms for common equipment, and a genome core facility. This "open plan" laboratory space includes space for "wet-bench" genomic work and bioinformatics stations. The "open plan" genomics lab typifies the spirit of collaboration and interactions so exceptional within the Biology Department.

Genome Core Facility: The Core Facility includes an Imaging Facility run by Dr. Ignatius Tan that currently includes state of the art microscopes including a Leica Spectral Confocal Microscope and Improvision Spinning Disk Confocal system for high through-put imaging. Both confocal systems have separate computer workstations configured to run Leica and Improvision’s Volocity image analysis software . The DNA Facility includes genome expression equipment including an Affymetrix GeneScan Hybridization and Reader system, Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer, GenePix Personal 4100A microarray scanner from Axon Instruments, a Light Cycler, and several automated DNA sequencers. The Robotics Facility includes an Acquarius multi-channel pipettor with autoloader by Tecan and a Tecan EVO platform configured with shaking incubator, tilting, cooling and heating carriers, a vacuum system, multi-channel pipetting head, bar code reader, and the Infinite M200 microplate reader. As a stand-alone or part of the EVO platform, the Infinite M200 reader is fully loaded incubating, shaking reader with (top/bottom read) fluorescence, luminometer, and excitation and emission monochromator options. The Cellular & Phenotyping Facility consists of the BD FACS Aria a high speed cell sorter with two laser lines (488, 633 nm) capable of automated dispensing into a 96 well format and sterile environment. Bacterial samples can be sorted through a forward scattering PMT.

Bioinformatics Suites and Cluster: The Bioinformatics suites in the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology contain approximately 30 workstations and associated computers. The computer cluster that serves these bioinformatics stations is presently comprised of 26 computational nodes, each with at least 4GB RAM. In addition to many essential software programs, the cluster uses the Sun Grid Engine for load balancing and process distribution among 34 Opteron 242 2.2 GHz processors. Disk storage available is currently over 10 terabytes. The Systems Administrator for the Bioinformatics cluster at NYU's Center for Genomics and Systems Biology is Joe Catanese. To inquire about access, please send an e-mail to fas.bio.computing@nyu.edu

NYU Super Computer ("MAX"): To further support the bioinformatics initiatives at NYU's Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, NYU has acquired a new IBM eServer Blade Center-based computing system capable of 4.5 TeraFlops; it is the fastest supercomputer in New York City and the 117th fastest in the world. With 10 TB of attached disk storage, this super computer cluster, named "MAX", provides an excellent platform for modeling biological systems and for manipulating the enormous amounts of data from genome sequencing and high-throughput microscopy, among other applications. Though the MAX cluster serves the entire university, researchers at NYU's Center for Genomics and Systems Biology receive priority access.

Recent Publications
Click here for Recent Publications from NYU Center for Genomics & Systems Biology

News & Events
7th Annual Symposium of the Center for Genomics & Systems Biology
"Systems Biology Across All Scales"
May 30, 2008
http://registrations.bio.nyu.edu/symposium

Click here for more information [PDF]