<<three-year agreement will cost OSU at least $450,000>>
Ohio universities line up early for use of human DNA map
OSU, Cincinnati reach agreements with company
Thursday, July 20, 2000
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Dispatch Science Reporter
Ohio medical researchers are emerging as eager buyers of the information coming out of early-stage completion of the national human genome project.
Celera Genomics Group of Rockville, Md., with which the government jointly announced completion of the first genome assembly June 26, has reached agreements with Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati on sharing the data.
Celera says it has established the order and orientation of the more than 3 billion units of DNA involved in the human genome.
Several other Ohio research institutions, including Battelle in Columbus and Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, are expected to sign similar subscription agreements soon.
"I think, in terms of initial users, we're the only state with two institutions already signed on, and pretty soon we'll have four,'' said Robert Highsmith, research dean at the University of Cincinnati.
A spokesman for Case Western said officials there have been talking with Celera, but no decision has been made.
Highsmith said Harvard and Vanderbilt universities were the first two schools to ink agreements with Celera. They are now being joined by OSU, Cincinnati and the University of Texas, he said.
Subscription prices are supposed to be confidential, but an Ohio State source said the three-year agreement will cost OSU at least $450,000.
What's being sold is access to the Celera database, which has been built in recent years using supercomputers and data collected by the Human Genome Project sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
"Celera subscribers will now be able to compare genetic data from the fruit fly, human and mouse in order to make discoveries that could lead to improved treatments and possible cures for disease,'' the company said last month.
At OSU, genetic research has become a top priority in the fight against cancer and other diseases caused at least in part by damaged genes or gene mutations.
The Celera database is a bargain, according to OSU scientists, because Celera's software package makes the genetic information easier and quicker to use, eliminating the need for expensive processing by each campus subscriber.
"We're talking about giant, humongous data sets that need to be mined,'' Highsmith said. "If we didn't have this, we'd have to hire several people to do what they do with their package.''
Michelle Gailiun, a spokeswoman for the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital at OSU, said researchers were notified Monday of the Celera agreement by the university Office of Research.
"I think this is a fairly big deal,'' Gailiun said. "We want to be early users. I'm told we're getting 150 requests a day to run these DNA tests.''
Ralf Krahe, OSU assistant professor in human cancer genetics, said the database will expedite gene studies here, although there was some initial concern the company might not be able to deliver all it promised.
"This is much more than a map of the human genome,'' he said. "It's not just the map; it's more like a book.''
As time goes on, he said, Celera not only will be able to locate genes but give more and more information about how they function within the cell and body.
"People now think that because we have the human genome sequenced, it's all done -- that we can ride off into the sunset,'' Krahe said. "But this is just the end of the beginning.''
At this point, he said, nobody is sure how many genes people have.
The estimate is about 100,000, but it could be anywhere from 35,000 to 150,000.
James King, director of biomedical sciences in the OSU College of Medicine, said university researchers didn't think they could wait for the same data to become available free through the National Institutes of Health.
To remain productive and competitive, King said, OSU needed to be one of the first universities to sign up.
Subscription, however, is by individual departments and academic units. And not all OSU departments engaged in genetic research agreed to participate.
"Our department decided we didn't want to get into this right now,'' said Samson Jacob, chairman of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry in the College of Medicine. "We are not certain the complete information is ready. And we are not geneticists. We're molecular biologists, so we can get away without having this information right now.''
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