IU Breaks Ground on Medical Information Sciences Building

Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, IU President Adam Herbert, IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz and IU School of Medicine Dean D. Craig Brater, M.D., will lead the 11 a.m. groundbreaking ceremonies, located near the Canal Walk at 10th Street. The property, formerly the site of the Indianapolis Police Department mounted police horse barn, was given to IU by the City of Indianapolis.

The 167,000-square-foot facility will provide space for five IU programs: the Division of Children’s Health Services Research, the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, the Division of Biostatistics, the Center for Bioethics and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., whose researchers are IU faculty members.

In addition to those programs, Eli Lilly and Co. and Clarian Health Partners will have offices for scientists who work with IU faculty and researchers.

The MISB cost is $42 million, $15 million of which was authorized by the Indiana General Assembly in 2003, and the remainder in private gifts, notably from Eli Lilly and Co. and the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation.

The corridor is being developed by the city, IU, Clarian, Lilly and other industries associated with BioCrossroads, an initiative created through public-private collaborations in Indiana. BioCrossroads seeks to attract and create jobs, companies and entrepreneurial opportunities to make Indiana a center of innovation in the business of enhancing health.

The vision was spawned nearly four years ago when the Lilly Endowment, Inc., awarded $105 million to IU to launch the Indiana Genomics Initiative. In 2003, the Endowment awarded another $50 million to IU to further advance INGEN and its related biomedical research.

When completed in 2006, the building also will include restaurants and other shops to serve the occupants of the building and the general public. Here is a look at the occupants of the Medical Information Sciences Building:

IU Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

The Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics was established by the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2003 with support from the Indiana Genomics Initiative. The center is home to scientists who use software to analyze biological information – the experiments run on computers rather than in traditional laboratories. It has a special emphasis on the problems of identifying the functions and structures of various protein entities.

Scientists at the center will collaborate with other investigators to merge bioinformatics techniques with traditional biomedical research, said center Director A. Keith Dunker, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the School of Medicine.

The center has established the Indiana Bioinformatics Interest Group with the purpose of integrating Indiana's intellectual capital with its economic capital. With participants from Eli Lilly & Co., Molecular Kinetics, Dow Agrosciences, IUPUI, Purdue University, and Indiana University, the group's members represent a broad spectrum of fields, including biochemistry and molecular biology, computer science, engineering, which will expand as the group increases in size and scope.
www.compbio.iupui.edu

IU Division of Biostatistics

This division was formed in the late 1980s by the IU School of Medicine as the role of biostatistics became elemental to medical research and education. The division provides leadership in the statistical design, analysis and data management of clinical, laboratory and epidemiologic studies for the schools of medicine, nursing and dentistry.

In addition to teaching courses in biostatistics, faculty members are developing new statistical methods in genomics, pharmacokinetics, item response theory and the analysis of long-term studies on dementia and sexual behaviors. They also direct projects or cores in cancer, osteoporosis, lithotripsy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Barry Katz, Ph.D., professor of medicine, is director of the division. www.biostat.iupui.edu

IU Center for Bioethics

The IU Center for Bioethics was established on the IUPUI campus of in July 2001 with a broad mandate to conduct interdisciplinary research, engage in education, and provide service to the IU community. The center’s five core and more than 25 affiliate faculty represent the multidisciplinary involvement from many IU schools and programs in
Indianapolis and Bloomington. It is supported by the IU School of Medicine and by the Indiana Genomics Initiative. Its research focuses on topics ranging from genetic testing and stem cell research to privacy, health care philanthropy and international research.

The center is directed by Eric M. Meslin, Ph.D., professor of medicine and of medical and molecular genetics, and assistant dean for bioethics in the IU School of Medicine, and professor of philosophy in the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts. He is the former executive director of the U.S. National Bioethics Advisory Commission. www.bioethics.iu.edu

Indiana Children’s Health Services Research

The Indiana Children’s Health Services Research is a section of the IU School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and a partner of Health Services Research at Regenstrief Institute, Inc. It was established in 2001 with support from the pediatrics department and the Riley Children’s Foundation. Its mission is to improve the health and health care of children by developing and applying best scientific evidence and methods in health services research and informatics.

The center’s areas of focus include community pediatrics, research and service concentrating on vulnerable children, the use of information technology to improve knowledge of children’s health care and quality of health services and dissemination of research through health policy research, clinical policy analysis and advocacy for children. Stephen Downs, M.D., M.S., associate professor of pediatrics, is director of the center.
www.iupui.edu/~chsrp

The Regenstrief Institute, Inc.

The Regenstrief Institute is an internationally recognized informatics and health-care research organization dedicated to enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care for all people. Philanthropist Sam Regenstrief established the institute in 1969 on the Indiana University Medical Center campus in Indianapolis.

The Institute is closely affiliated with the IU School of Medicine and Wishard Health Services.

Regenstrief’s research scientists, members of the IU faculty, are a highly respected cadre of informatics specialists and health services researchers working within one of the largest and most comprehensive medical informatics laboratories in the world.

The president and chief executive officer of the institute is Thomas Inui, M.D., who is the Sam Regenstrief Professor of Health Services Research, associate dean for Health Care Research and professor of medicine. The director of the institute is Clement McDonald, M.D., IU Distinguished Professor, Regenstrief Professor of Medical Informatics, professor of medicine, and a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
www.regenstrief.org

Source: Indiana University