Background and Mission

Nationally recognized programs and investigators in the Life Sciences exist throughout the University of Missouri (UM) System.  These outstanding programs in the areas of medicine, molecular biology, genetics, structural biology, and molecular evolution are being strategically strengthened through the multi-year Mission Enhancement program.  In recognition of existing strengths and opportunities for development of programs of excellence, the University has identified Bioinformatics and Health Informatics as a specific target for long-term enhancement.

In the fall of 2000, representatives from the four University of Missouri campuses, in coordination with representatives from the University's General Officers, proposed the development of the University of Missouri Bioinformatics Consortium (UMBC).  In July, 2001, the Chancellors of the four UM campuses approved creation of the UMBC, and it was presented to the UM Board of Curators.

The UMBC is a System-wide resource for high-performance computational infrastructure, which emphasizes and facilitates inter-campus communication and bioinformatics research collaborations.  Specific goals are to:

  • Provide resources for the UM System in the form of accessible and sharable computational capabilities and databases for collaborating investigators on any campus.
  • Foster the development of advanced information technology applications in the Life Sciences in collaboration with peer Internet2 institutions.
  • Facilitate the training of a new generation of students and scientists in the interdisciplinary area of bioinformatics and computational biology; the bridging of Life Sciences, clinical sciences and computer applications.
  • Provide necessary resources for bioinformatics and Life Sciences research that will result in improved education and healthcare for Missourians and will enhance food and animal genome research.
  • Enhance the connections of UM to rapidly developing trends in bioinformatics in the private sector.
    • To satisfy these objectives, the UMBC provides:
  • High-performance computational systems to analyze massive sets of data
  • Very large storage devices to house major data collections
  • High speed networking services to facilitate location-independent access and collaboration among investigators
  • Software applications supporting research in bioinformatics (e.g. sequence analysis, microarray data storage and analysis)
  • Technical support staff