UI researchers win $10 mil. grant
CHICAGO - A research team led by two University of Illinois scientists has won a $10 million grant to help provide the first sequence of the swine genome, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced Friday.Lawrence Schook and John Beever, UI professors who last summer completed a side-by-side comparison of the pig and human genomes, will head a project that will involve researchers at other U.S. universities, the government and laboratories in France and England. The project is expected to be completed within two years at a total cost of about $20 million, Schook said.
"Virtually everything we do with pork production will be impacted by this genome work," said Mark Boggess, director of animal science at the National Pork Board. "We'll thoroughly understand the biology involved with the way things are genetically and then we can apply management, selection and nutrition programs to fit."
The Pork Board and several state pork-producer associations will contribute about $1 million to the research, Boggess said Friday.
Source: ChicagoSunTimes
20 January 2006
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