Richard Michelmore, a professor of genetics at UC Davis and an internationally known genomics expert, has been selected as founding director of the UC Davis Genome Center.

"With the broad range of genomics and bioinformatics research on our campus, from food crops to laboratory animals, UC Davis is already making unique contributions in this area," said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw. "Dr Michelmore has the leadership and expertise to enable UC Davis to expand these efforts and realize new achievements in this critical multidisciplinary effort. I'm surely excited about working with him on this endeavor."

Michelmore will oversee the hiring of 15 new faculty members in genomics and bioinformatics, as well as the final stages of constructing and equipping the Genome Center. The center will be located in the $95 million Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, located north of Tupper Hall in the health sciences district. The building is scheduled to open in summer 2004.

Describing genomics as a "global approach" to biology that embraces everything from DNA sequencing and protein structure to metabolic profiling and population genetics, Michelmore said that the center would take advantage of the breadth of interests at UC Davis to attack related questions in different groups of organisms. For example, there are similarities in the way microorganisms infect plants and animals.

Michelmore anticipates that new faculty hired for the center will be evenly split between research interests in plants, animals and microbes, with several whose work involves multiple groups of organisms. The new hires will include both "wet-lab" scientists and bioinformatics researchers who do most of their work on computers.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Craig Benham, the Genome Center's associate director for bioinformatics and acting director since July 2001. "I think he is developing a wonderful vision for the center and I look forward very much to working with him to implement that vision."

"I am very pleased that we were able to recruit Dr. Michelmore to lead the genomics initiative at this critical time," said Phyllis Wise, dean of the Division of Biological Sciences. "We are living in a truly exciting time in biological discovery. I am certain that Dr. Michelmore is an ideal person to lead this campus in its efforts to develop new genomic and proteomic technologies and apply them to the life sciences."

"Richard is one of the world's top plant molecular biologists who has a broad understanding of the ever increasing diversity and potential impact that research in genomics can have on society today," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Michelmore earned his bachelor's degree and a doctorate in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge, England in 1976 and 1979, respectively. He did postdoctoral research in India and at Cambridge before joining the UC Davis faculty as an assistant professor in 1982. He became an associate professor in 1988 and full professor in 1992. He was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2002.

Michelmore's research focuses on the molecular and classical genetics of disease resistance in plants, particularly lettuce, tomato and Arabidopsis, a plant commonly used as a research model. He and his students have developed computer software programs for analyzing genomic data, which are available online at no charge.

He teaches courses ranging from "Plants and People," a general-education course for non-majors, to an advanced graduate level course, "Genomics and Biotechnology of Plant Improvement." He was chair of the Genetics Graduate Group from 1997 to 2003.

Joseph Silva Jr., dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine, said: "We are pleased by this appointment and willingness to take on the development of a new center. Dr. Michelmore is a first class scientist and will coordinate the recruitment of a number of different genomic investigators to give us a diversity in our research."