Tom Humphreys will head UH Manoa Center for Genomics, Proteomics and Bioninformatics Research Initiatives

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Gary K. Ostrander, (808) 956-7837
UH Manoa Vice Chancellor for Research
Posted: Jun 26, 2006

UH Manoa Vice Chancellor for Research Gary K. Ostrander has announced the appointment of Tom Humphreys, researcher in the Pacific Biosciences Research Center (PBRC) and Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, to lead research initiatives for the fledgling Center for Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics.

Humphreys has been on the faculty at Manoa for 34 years. During those three decades he organized the first recombinant DNA lab in Hawaiʻi, lead a reorganization of the UH Cancer Research Center of Hawaiʻi, established the graduate program in cell and molecular biology and founded Hawaii Biotech, Inc., the state‘s leading biotech venture.

Humphreys now turns his attention to leading the approval, establishment and planning for the new Center as a university entity, to be placed administratively within PBRC. The Center‘s work will be integrated with that of PBRC‘s existing Greenwood Molecular Biology Facility. The program aims to provide access to technology in the areas of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics for various biological sciences units at Manoa and for the increasingly-important biosciences industry in Hawaiʻi.

The new director will establish the foundations for a functional center that will acquire and operate high cost equipment and assemble the scientific expertise necessary to foster research in these areas. The Center will be able to offer assistance to individual faculty projects in basic, medical and agricultural research in using cutting edge genomic, proteomic and bioinformatic approaches in their research.

Humphreys has accepted a three year appointment effective July 1, 2006.