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Exploring Horizons for Domestic Animal Genomics Workshop Summary (2002) / Chapter Skim
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3. Roles of Public, Private, and Nongovernmental Organizations in Advancing Genomics Research
Pages 20-25

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From page 20...
... PARTNERSHIP IS ESSENTIAL FOR ADVANCING ANIMAL GENOMIC RESEARCH For Roger Wyse, Managing Director of Burrill & Company, and Chairman of the Alliance for Animal Genome Research, the strongest approach is to involve a number of different entities in domestic animal genomics research programs. "It's quite clear that what we're talking about here is not a standalone initiative, but rather one that needs to be integrated across agencies to take advantage of their structure and strengths." Although it will be more complicated to coordinate efforts in such a broad coalition ranging from government to the private sector, it is in practice the only viable option.
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From page 21...
... , with its mission for improving agricultural productivity in the United States, would seem to be appropriate for initiating further sequencing of domestic animal genomes, but its budget requests and allocations traditionally have not accounted for increased genomics research. Thus, workshop participants discussed the best ways to match their research objectives to the goals and missions of these various government agencies.
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From page 22...
... Unless we take a chunk out of the farm subsidy pot, that becomes a big constraint." For that reason, one audience member suggested NIH as the most appropriate starting point. "In light of NIH calling for proposals, I think what we do is work very hard to get NIH to see the value in sequencing farm animal genomes." As for companion animals, such as dogs and cats, the USDA Agricultural Research Service is not authorized by law to fund research on them.
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From page 23...
... But the issues for them are the profit margins that they have and the cost of doing both the basic work and some of the assays that would be used in marker assisted breeding or gene-expression profiling." THE ROLE OF A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP To help define the roles of the public and private sector in domestic animal genomics research, Wyse suggested a public-private consortium in which private companies and research universities worked together. If the consortium had well-defined goals and limited itself to precompetitive research (work where companies or institutions are not averse to their competitors having equal access to the results of their efforts)
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From page 24...
... " Part of the strategy will be playing up the fact that the biotechnology companies that take the information you generate and apply it to agriculture are actually going to build value in the human health care market." Because returns are higher in human than in animal healthcare, and because the human healthcare market is much larger than its animal counterpart, the applications that animal genomics research has to human health will be an important consideration. ALLOCATING WORK IN ANIMAL GENOMICS RESEARCH In reflecting on the roles of government and the private sector, workshop participants focused on one major question with respect to the role of academia and its importance in creating a strong genomics research community: How much of the sequencing and other routine work should be conducted outside of an academic setting?
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From page 25...
... I don't think it's an either/or situation." Ultimately, Wyse concluded, those calling for a centrist approach seem to have a valid argument. "There is a balance between doing routine sequencing in an academic setting with faculty and graduate students and post-does, versus contracting it out to TIGR or someone else." But for the parts of the project with more intellectual content, most seemed to agree that it makes sense to use university researchers.
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Key Terms

  • genomics research
  • animal genomics
  • animal genomes
  • genomic research
  • competitive grants

  • venture capitalists
  • agricultural research
  • wyse suggested
  • venture capital
  • animal health

  • grants program
  • academic setting
  • agricultural biotechnology
  • private companies
  • efficient cost

  • managing director
  • allocations traditionally
  • pharmaceutical companies
  • improving human
  • animal research

  • automated sequencing
  • managing germplasm
  • laboratory models
  • gene functions
  • health industry

  • research institution
  • care market
  • farm animal
  • participants discussed
  • roger wyse


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