MIT continues to view systems biology as a top priority field at the engineering/biology interface. We are enthusiastic about serving as a strong foundational locus in the Cambridge/Boston area to enhance the larger community including other area institutions and especially the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in our neighborhood. The new Council on Systems Biology in Boston that you two arc spearheading plays a central role in this effort. We are also proud of the leadership role that the CDP Center is playing in the multi-institutional conferences and symposium it has helped to organize, and of the industry partnerships (e.g., Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck) that CDP investigators have established. An important goal at MIT is always societal impact, and we envision that systems biology should have tremendous impact on the creation of new knowledge in basic biomedical science as well on the translation to human healthcare applications. A primary goal here, of course, is education of the next generation of leaders for society, and in your case the students and postdocs that the CDP Center is educating at the engineering/biology interface are truly the epitome of the science and technology pioneers we wish to produce. The administrative structure supporting your efforts is firmer than ever, with Doug holding central responsibility for the academic and research units with which the CDP Center is affiliated - as Head of the Department of Biological Engineering and Director of the multi-Departmental (partnering with the Departments of Biology and of Electrical Engineering &Computer Science) Computational &Systems Biology Initiative here. Dean of Engineering Subra Suresh and Dean of Science Marc Kastner join me in their strong support for an even stronger Engineering/Science partnership with your Center serving as a leading light. Among other current tangible endeavors, we are working together to enhance the capabilities of the multi-investigator research platforms sponsored by CSBi along with the BE, EECS, and Biology Departments, with significant funding and instrumentation assistance as has been requested by Doug and the two other Department Heads.
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