acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

ACM TechNews

National Science Foundation Awards $1.4 Million For Genocad Development


View as: Print Mobile App Share:

Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech professor Jean Peccoud has been awarded a three-year, $1.42 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a Web-based computer-aided design (CAD) environment for synthetic biology called GenoCAD. Synthetic biology uses engineering methods to design artificial biological systems and has been used to re-design natural systems to better understand the fundamental properties of living organisms. "We are considering DNA as a language to program living organisms instead of computers," Peccoud says. "This analogy has led us to apply methods and results from computer science to biology."

GenoCAD will feature a point-and-click interface that enables users to select icons representing structural features of functional blocks to create DNA sequences. Once a design is finished, the sequence can be downloaded for synthesis or additional analysis.

Peccoud says GenoCAD's development will be community-driven, with synthetic biology researchers helping to advance the project so it meets a wide range of user needs. Users will be able to customize a free, public version of GenoCAD to meet specific needs. Early applications of GenoCAD include designing vaccines, sensors for biodefense, and pathways for biofuel production.

From Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
View Full Article

 

Abstracts Copyright © 2009 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA


 

No entries found

Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account