New Grant Will Fund Genetic Institute
The Life Science Discovery Fund (LSDF) has awarded a $5.8 million, four-year grant to fully fund the Northwest Institute of Genetic Medicine.
The institute is a collaborative effort between researchers at Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute, the University of Washington, Group Health and local biotechnology companies. Researchers will focus on translating human genetic research into clinical medicine. For example, institute scientists are now working to identify infants with congenital heart defects who are at greatest risk for poor neurological outcomes. Identifying the genetic profile of these at-risk infants may lead to modification of related surgeries or even an altering of therapies to prevent or reduce neurological problems.
“It’s very exciting to see investigators coming together from pediatrics, medicine, genome sciences, and biostatistics,” said Dr. Michael Bamshad, researcher and geneticist at Children’s and professor of pediatrics in the University of Washington Medical School’s Division of Genetics and Developmental Medicine. “This generous grant will support some groundbreaking work.”