Mission
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The mission of the Centre for Bioinformatics Imperial College London is to promote
and co-ordinate world-class research and training in Bioinformatics within
Imperial College and to provide state-of-the-art Bioinformatics support to
members of Imperial College for their research.
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Objectives
of the Centre for Bioinformatics [ UP ]
The major objectives of the Centre for Bioinformatics are to:
- Co-ordinate the strategic development of Bioinformatics at Imperial across the three
Faculties and at the different campuses.
- Develop new collaborative projects within and outside Imperial, particularly those
that are multi-disciplinary.
- Develop links with and contribute to a broad College-wide view of Bioinformatics
including areas such as theoretical systems biology, statistical genetics, synthetic
biology and chemoinformatics.
- Have a strategic role in the provision of teaching and training in Bioinformatics.
- Organise seminar programs and symposia on Bioinformatics.
- Disseminate relevant software, databases and information to the UK and world
scientific communities, both academic and industrial.
- Facilitate the provision of state-of-the-art Bioinformatics support to members
of Imperial by directing the Bioinformatics Support Service.
Objectives
of the Bioinformatics Support Service [ UP ]
The objectives of the Bioinformatics Support Service (BSS) are to provide the following services to all Imperial Campuses:
- In-house facilities for major Bioinformatics tasks, such as sequence database searching and microarray data analysis.
- Imperial wide access to appropriate commercial software and/or data.
- Local web-accessible services for a variety of common bioinformatics tasks
- Expertise and training courses on the use of the above facilities.
- Collaborative research on specific topics
- Assistance in grant proposal preparation for bioinformatics and data management components
- Support for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.
- Assistance to the CfB in the co-ordination of Bioinformatics at Imperial.
Background
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- Bioinformatics can be defined as the use of computational,
mathematical and statistical methods to organise, analyse and interpret biological
information, particularly at the molecular, cellular, genetic and genomic levels.
Bioinformatics is central to the interpretation and exploitation of the wealth of
biological data being generated in the post-genome era with the consequential major
clinical and commercial benefits.
- It is vital that Imperial College has world-class research in Bioinformatics together with
state-of-the-art facilities for all users. Since Bioinformatics is a multi-disciplinary
topic with research activities located in all three Faculties, a clearly identified
focus is required, in particular to co-ordinate multi-disciplinary research. In parallel,
it is essential to provide biologists and medics with state-of-the-art Bioinformatics for
their research, otherwise they will be performing sub-optimal work.
- Over the last few years, the research area of Systems Biology has developed substantially.
Modelling at the cellular and molecular levels, which are key aspects in Systems Biology,
are considered as a major interest of the CfB. Within Imperial, research in Systems Biology
is co-ordinated by the Institute for Systems and Synthetic Biology (ISSB) and the BBSRC
Centre for Integrative Systems Biology at Imperial College (CISBIC). The CfB maintains
close links with the ISSB and CISBIC to further work in areas of common interest.
CFB
Management Structure [ UP ]
- The CfB is housed with the Division of Molecular Biosciences, Department of Life Sciences,
Faculty of Natural Sciences. The Director is appointed by the Principal of the Faculty
of Natural Sciences. The Director can be a member of any Faculty.
- A Steering Committee to manage the CfB comprised of senior academic staff at Imperial
involved in Bioinformatics has been assembled by the CfB Director in consultation with
the Head of the Division of Natural Sciences.
- The CfB Steering Committee will report to the Head of the Division of Molecular Biosciences
via the CfB Director.
- The Steering Committee will establish an External Advisory Panel formed from leading scientists
from academia or industry with a strong interest in Bioinformatics.
- The Steering Committee will identify the affiliates of the CfB. Affiliates will be Imperial staff
directly involved in Bioinformatics and will either be pursuing independent research or will be
providing major support or development of bioinformatics. In addition, the head of an Imperial
grouping, such as a centre, may affiliate to represent the collective Bioinformatics interests of a set of people.
Membership of the
CFB Steering Committee
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Member
|
Faculty
/ Affiliation
|
| Professor Michael Sternberg
|
Life Sciences / Biological Sciences
(Chair) |
| Professor Timothy Aitman |
Medicine / MRC-CSC |
| Professor David Balding |
Medicine / Epidemiology and Public Health
|
| Professor John Darlington |
Engineering / Computer Science
/ LeSC |
| Professor Paul Freemont |
Life Sciences / Biological Sciences/
CSB |
| Professor Philippe Froguel |
Medicine |
| Professor Stephen Muggleton |
Engineering / Computer Science |
| Professor James Scott |
Medicine / GGRI |
| Professor Richard
Templer |
Physical Sciences
/ Chemistry |
LeSC
London e-Science Centre
CSB Centre for Structural Biology
MRC-CSC MRC Clinical Sciences Centre
GGRI Genetics and Genomics Research Institute
CFB External Advisors
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Member
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Faculty
/ Affiliation
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| Professor Alan Bundy
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Division of Informatics, Edinburgh University |
| Professor Lon Cardon
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Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford |
| Professor Anna Dominiczak
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Western Infirmary, Glasgow |
| Professor Charlie Hodgman |
GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage |
| Professor Janet Thornton, FRS |
European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton |
Annual Reports
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