Monday, September 23rd, 2013
New York University today announced it is awarding $250,000 each to two teams of researchers in its newly created “Grand Challenge” competition to promote significant scientific research that has the potential to solve major national or global problems. Seven researchers from the CGSB are a part of one of the teams, working on a project called "Mapping NYC's 'MetaGenome'". The team, led by CGSB Director Jane Carlton, includes CGSB faculty members Richard Bonneau and Patrick Eichenberger, CGSB PhD student Julia Maritz and postdoc Susan Joseph, GenCore personnel Paul Scheid and Justin DeGrazia, well as other members of the NYU community: Ari Patrinos, deputy director for research at the Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP); Steven Koonin, director of CUSP; Cláudio Silva, head of disciplines at CUSP and professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at NYU-Poly; Martin Blaser, director of the Human Microbiome Program at NYU School of Medicine; and Cheryl Healton, director of NYU’s Global Institute of Public Health and dean of Global Public Health.
The "Mapping NYC's 'MetaGenome'" project aims to map New York City’s microbial MetaGenome and could lead to the identification of potential bio-threats and improve the health of all New Yorkers. Researchers plan to gather microbial samples from sewage lines in all five boroughs and from dollar bills circulating in New York City--sources that capture many of the components of the city's MetaGenome.
For more information about the competition and winning projects, click here.
