Partnerships

The LSBI functions, in part, through close collaboration with research partners.  A few of these partnerships are detailed below.

		Modern high-throughput biological research is not possible without strong bioinformatics/computational support.  Additionally, there is a considerable need for new and improved algorithms to process and analyze large biological data sets.  The Institute for Digital Biology (IDB) was co-founded by Shane Burgess (LSBI Director) and Susan Bridges (LSBI Distinguished Fellow) as a means of building fruitful, long-term collaborations between computer scientists and biologists at MS State.  This highly successful "grassroots" endeavor has strengthened the research mission of the University and, along with other institutes like the LSBI, increased the competitiveness of MS State in the molecular biosciences.  Click here to learn more about the IDB.
		The Mississippi Genome Exploration Laboratory (MGEL) was founded in 2002 by Daniel G. Peterson (LSBI Associate Director).  Under Peterson's direction, MGEL has become recognized around the world as a leader in plant and animal genomics.  Click here to learn more about MGEL.
		AgBase is a curated, open-source, Web-accessible resource for functional analysis of agricultural plant and animal gene products. Established by Susan Bridges and Shane Burgess during the creation of the IDB (see above), AgBase supports a staff of biocurators under the direction of Fiona McCarthy.  The long-term goal of AgBase is to serve the needs of agricultural research communities by facilitating genome annotation for agriculture researchers and for those researchers primarily using agricultural species as biomedical models.  Click here to learn more about AgBase.
		The Energy Genomics Network (EGN) is a joint venture of the LSBI and the IDB.  The goal of the EGN is to facilitate and promote coordination between the genomics aspects of MS State's numerous bioenergy endeavors.  The EGN is co-chaired by Susan Diehl and LSBI Associate Director Daniel Peterson.  Click here for more information about the EGN.
		The LSBI collaborates with a number of USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) stations throughout the U.S.  Among the most substantive of these collaborations are those with the Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory (BFGL) at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC; Beltsville, MD), the Genetics and Precision Agricultural Unit at the Crop Science Research Laboratory (CSRL; Starkville, MS), and the Mid South Area Genomics Laboratory at the Jamie Whitten Delta States Research Center (Stoneville, MS).
		The Cotton Genomics Partnership (CGP) is a group of MS State researchers and USDA-ARS scientists who are working together to advance understanding of cotton and cotton pests using advanced genomics techniques.  The group is led by LSBI Associate Director Daniel Peterson and includes MS State faculty Jeff Wilkinson, Zhaohua Peng, K. Raja Reddy, and Peggy Thaxton and USDA-ARS scientists Johnie Jenkins and Martin Wubben.  Click here to learn more.