VGN Overview: The Vermont Genetics Network (VGN) is funded by a five-year, $16.5 million award from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), and is part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative called IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). Under the direction of Dr. Judith Van Houten, the VGN, which links scientists at Castleton State College, Johnson State College, Middlebury College, Norwich University and St. Michael's College to resources at UVM, is designed to provide funding for research, equipment and technology necessary to enhance competitiveness for national funding for genetics research. Other aims of the project include increasing the number of undergraduates who go on to biomedical careers from the baccalaureate colleges, to provide and support bioinformatics capability in the state, and to increase the diversity of biomedical scientists. [more information]

Report from the Director, Dr. Judith Van Houten
George H. Perkins Professor of Biology at the University of Vermont
We enter Year 2 of our funding in high gear. Our Microarray Facility is growing and supporting more research all the time. A Proteomics Facility focusing on Mass Spectrometry is becoming a reality, and our goal for Year 2 is to have not one but two new Mass Specs and a Facility Manager on hand to help you with your proteomics projects. Outreach into Vermont is a huge success, thanks to the diligence and hard work of our team. The Bioinformatics Core, which tends to work behind the scenes, is moving along nicely with ERIS, our searchable experts list for Vermont.

Also in Year 2, we will support our Baccalaureate Partner Institution (BPI) faculty with project grants, pilot grants and renovations. We have a record number of students working at our BPIs this summer with VGN support. Year 2 is the year that will see the first plans for building and sustaining a culture of research at our BPIs. To facilitate this ongoing effort of culture-building, we are featuring two experts in integration of research and teaching at our August 16 retreat.

In Year 2, we will support a record number of graduate students at UVM, and the set up funding of two new faculty members in Animal Science and in Biology.

The VGN is more than the sum of its individual parts, and we must continually thank the dedicated members of VGN's staff and faculty who make all of these parts work. We are most definitely impacting research infrastructure in our State, and we are making the University of Vermont an accessible place for all Vermonters to facilitate their research. We know that you value VGN because we have an astounding 100% compliance response rate for our surveys and reporting that are necessary for our annual progress assessment by the NIH. Thank you for that response, and thank you for your hard work on Year 1 that gives us great momentum for Year 2.