ORNL Becomes Adjunct Member of the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (September 1999)

The objective of this expanded membership is to strengthen scope and impact of the Department of Energy (DOE) genomics research program by establishing interfaces and couplings between the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and appropriate elements of the life sciences research program at ORNL. In particular, collaborations with the ORNL Functional Genomics program and coupling of the ORNL genome informatics program to the JGI effort are part of the expanded membership. The new membership relationship is "adjunct" in distinction to that of the three JGI founding labs. In their case, full management authority has been ceded to the JGI; this includes authority over scientific program and budget. No such general transfer of authority is planned in the ORNL case. In its place, however, it is agreed that the collaborative research efforts undertaken between ORNL and the JGI will be carefully structured and closely managed by a team including JGI, ORNL, and DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) staff members. It is also agreed that ORNL scientific staff involved in the collaborative projects will participate in the management and planning processes of the JGI. (Contact: R. C. Mann, 574-5845 or mannrc@ornl.gov)