NOTE: We highly recommend that scientists with an interest in working with the IGBB in any capacity register for a
MyIGBB account. Registration is free, easy, and provides investigators with the most efficient and effective way of utilizing the IGBB.
Introduction
The IGBB provides some standard services (fee-for-service) to MS State faculty, staff, and external scientists (see Service Center). However, most research is too complicated to be offered as a standard service. Such work can be performed by a trained IGBB staff member through a
research agreement.
Guns for Hire
IGBB Research Associates (RAs) can be hired to conduct specific research tasks. For example, let's say you need an expert in RNA isolation and cDNA sequencing to help you complete a portion of a research project. You could train a student or postdoc to become proficient in these research tasks, but you may not have the experience, time, or money to train an individual in RNA isolation and cDNA sequencing. Moreover, you may not have the instrumentation you need to do the research correctly. This is where the IGBB can help. Rather than training someone new, you can hire a highly skilled IGBB RA to perform the research for you. The savings in cost and time is tremendous. The process works like this:
- The principal investigator (PIs) interested in determining whether
the IGBB can help them in their research/analyses submits a request to meet/talk with an IGBB research associate via MyIGBB.
- A qualified IGBB
consultant then contacts the PI to discuss project goals, feasibility, and
approaches. This consultation is free.
- If the PI and the RA agree to a research plan, the
RA
will generate an itemized quote for the PI that includes salary, fringe, reagent
costs, machine costs, etc. The duration of the employment agreement depends upon the needs of the customer and can range from a few hours to several months. In addition, IGBB employment agreements can cover fairly low weekly time committments spread out over long stretches (e.g., a customer may hire an IGBB employee to work on a project 5 hours a week for four years). Overhead charges and/or HPC² retainage costs may or may not be
applicable. Once a plan is set between a PI and an IGBB RA, a final quote will be sent to the PI for approval (via MyIGBB). Once the PI approves the quote, work can begin.
To discuss a Research Agreement with an appropriate IGBB employee, please submit a MyIGBB HelpDesk ticket or contact us by phone or e-mail (see Contact).
NOTE: PIs are asked to consider whether the participation of an IGBB employee in a project merits that employee's inclusion as a co-author on a resulting manuscript(s). The decision ultimately lies with the PI. However, the IGBB encourages IGBB staff and faculty involved in
Proposal Partnerships and
Experts for Hire to discuss/negotiate co-authorship with PIs before starting work on a project.
AgBase: a functional genomics resource for agriculture
IGBB Authors:
Fiona M. McCarthy, Nan Wang, G. Bryce Magee, Bindu Nanduri, Mark L. Lawrence, Dawn S. Luthe, Susan M. Bridges, Shane C. BurgessPUBLICATION YEAR:
2006IMPACT FACTOR:
4.188CITATION COUNT:
204McCarthy FM, Wang N, Magee GB, Nanduri B, Lawrence ML, Camon EB, Barrell DG, Hill DP, Dolan ME, Williams WP, Luthe DS, Bridges SM, Burgess SC (2006) AgBase: a functional genomics resource for agriculture.
BMC Genomics 7: 229.
DOI:
10.1186/1471-2164-7-229EID:
2-s2.0-33750483615PMID: 16961921
DOWNLOAD PDFABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Many agricultural species and their pathogens have sequenced genomes and more are in progress. Agricultural species provide food, fiber, xenotransplant tissues, biopharmaceuticals and biomedical models. Moreover, many agricultural microorganisms are human zoonoses. However, systems biology from functional genomics data is hindered in agricultural species because agricultural genome sequences have relatively poor structural and functional annotation and agricultural research communities are smaller with limited funding compared to many model organism communities. DESCRIPTION: To facilitate systems biology in these traditionally agricultural species we have established "AgBase", a curated, web-accessible, public resource http://www.agbase.msstate.edu for structural and functional annotation of agricultural genomes. The AgBase database includes a suite of computational tools to use GO annotations. We use standardized nomenclature following the Human Genome Organization Gene Nomenclature guidelines and are currently functionally annotating chicken, cow and sheep gene products using the Gene Ontology (GO). The computational tools we have developed accept and batch process data derived from different public databases (with different accession codes), return all existing GO annotations, provide a list of products without GO annotation, identify potential orthologs, model functional genomics data using GO and assist proteomics analysis of ESTs and EST assemblies. Our journal database helps prevent redundant manual GO curation. We encourage and publicly acknowledge GO annotations from researchers and provide a service for researchers interested in GO and analysis of functional genomics data. CONCLUSION: The AgBase database is the first database dedicated to functional genomics and systems biology analysis for agriculturally important species and their pathogens. We use experimental data to improve structural annotation of genomes and to functionally characterize gene products. AgBase is also directly relevant for researchers in fields as diverse as agricultural production, cancer biology, biopharmaceuticals, human health and evolutionary biology. Moreover, the experimental methods and bioinformatics tools we provide are widely applicable to many other species including model organisms.
Dr. Charles A. Thrash (Adam)Research Associate II
BIOCOMPUTING
emailn/a
Knoxville, TN
The IGBB is supported, in part, by the following units:
The IGBB is an HPC² member center.
