RTI International - News Release - 11.4.2003
Genome Database Goes Back Online
New host, RTI International, is a nonprofit research institute
Research Triangle Park, NC -- The Genome Database (GDB), a unique repository of confirmed information about human genes, has found a new home at RTI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute in North Carolina.
The GDB includes curated information about the human genome. The database includes not only the results of the Human Genome Project, but also the most recent annotated information identifying genes and gene function. This worldwide project involves hundreds of scientists whose empirical results ensure the quality and currency of the GDB data.
RTI will host the database as a free, public resource at www.gdb.org. In addition, RTI has re-started the process of peer-reviewed "curation" that makes the database unique. Curation ensures the quality and currency of the data.
RTI, which has broad-ranging programs in bioinformatics and associated computer, biological, and chemical sciences, also is planning to improve the GDB's software and user interface.
"We are proud that RTI has been entrusted to maintain this important resource for research in the public interest," said RTI President Victoria Franchetti Haynes. "We are committed not only to the quality of the data, but also to the tradition that academic and government researchers always have free access to the GDB."
The database started at Johns Hopkins University in 1990, and since 1998 The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, has maintained it. Over the past year, these institutions have worked together to find a long-term home for the GDB.
RTI is renowned for management and analysis of complex databases, and for collaborative research projects involving scientists from multiple disciplines.
Founded in 1959 by universities in North Carolina, RTI conducts research and provides technical services to achieve its mission of improving the human condition. RTI has more than 2,200 employees worldwide, working on projects for governments, companies, public service organizations, and international agencies. RTI's work focuses on health and pharmaceuticals, advanced technologies, survey and statistics, education and training, economic and social development, and the environment.