Recent advances in molecular biology have produced an avalanche of data, including DNA sequences and genetic maps that cover hundreds of thousands of genes whose functions are poorly understood or completely unknown. An understanding of gene interactions at the genome level will eventually lead toward the development of the knowledge base required to explain the complex processes regulating biological functions.

Functional genomics is an emerging field that focuses on the structure, function, and interaction of genes, gene families, genetic pathways, and whole genomes. By utilizing accumulated genetic data, it seeks to address many current issues at the interface between medicine and biology, such as the analysis of gene expression in human cancer cells with DNA microarrays, or drug development and screening in cell cultures.

Biotechnology takes this enterprise one step further by seeking to utilize the results of functional genomics for the benefit of mankind. The methods of biotechnology include in vitro selection, targeted gene fusions, and combinatorial chemistry, and its applications are many-new antibiotics, cancer medications, environmentally-friendly methods of insect pest control, to name a few.

Some of the key research initiatives currently underway at George Mason University include:

• Biomedical genomics;
• Functional genomics of liver diseases and disorders;
• In-vitro studies with growth factors;
• Functional genomics of development and differentiation;
• Mechanisms of anti-microbial resistance;
• Gene regulation;
• Studies in geno-toxicology;
• Development of new genomics based diagnostic tools; and
• Cancer genomics.
  

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