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Name of Collaboratory :

Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG)

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Brief Description of the Collaboratory :

The Consortium for Functional Glycomics was established by NIH (NIGHMS) as a Glue-Grant, and anticipates spending a projected total of $34 million on the project over the course of five years.

The overarching goal of the Consortium is to define paradigms by which protein-carbohydrate interactions mediate cell communication.

Three major components comprise the Consortium for Functional Glycomics: the Steering Committee, the Cores (an Administrative Core and seven Scientific Cores), and the Participating Investigators. The Steering Committee consists of 11 members that meet every other week. It has overall responsibility for setting the scientific direction and the budget of the Consortium, and ensuring that information and materials generated by the program are efficiently disseminated within the program and to the public.

Six of the seven Scientific Cores generate material resources, new technologies, and a platform of information that enable progress toward the overall goals. The Information and Bioinformatics Core is responsible for the creation of databases that serve as a window to all program information, and specialized tools that facilitate a glycomics approach to the goals of the Consortium. The reliance of the Consortium on the Cores for achieving the overall goals is underscored by the fact that nearly 90% of the total 'glue grant' funds are allocated to them: Information and Bioinformatics Core; Analytical Core; Carbohydrate Synthesis/Protein Expression Core; Gene Microarray Core; Mouse Transgenics Core; Mouse Phenotype Core; Protein-Carbohydrate Interaction Core

Each Core has a Coordinator (also a member of the Steering Committee) who is responsible for its oversight. The day-to-day operations of each Core are the responsibility of a Core Director. Core Directors are key to the success of the Cores and they attend Steering Committee meetings as deemed appropriate. The participation of the Coordinator and Director of each Core in Steering Committee meetings facilitates the communication of relevant decisions to Core personnel.

The third 'arm' of the Consortium is the Participating Investigators, each of whom has a program of funded research within the scope of the Consortium. In return for resources, Participating Investigators agree to accept responsibility for achieving one or more Specific Aims and to provide the data to the Consortium database. The Consortium currently has 76 Participating Investigators at some 60 institutions. Four Participating Investigators have modest size 'bridging grants' that bridge their research to the goals of the Consortium.

Investigators interested in joining the Consortium as a Participating Investigator are encouraged to fill out an application posted on the Consortium website. The philosophy of the Consortium is to be inclusive, and all qualified investigators are accepted as members. The Participating Investigators are divided into subgroups based on the relevance of their research to the GBP families that are the focus of the Consortium. These subgroups bring together, and facilitate communication among, investigators working on common problems, and aid the Consortium in identifying priorities for helping that sub-field accelerate progress.

A variety of resources and services are available and are distributed to the Scientific Cores and to Participating Investigators for the purpose of conducting experiments that address the Specific Aims of the Consortium. The majority of the resources are being generated by three Scientific Cores, the Carbohydrate Synthesis/Protein Expression Core, the Mouse Transgenics Core, and the Gene Microarray Core. Participating Investigators may also submit experimental samples for analysis by the Gene Microarray Core or the Protein-Carbohydrate Interaction Core.

Information generated by the Cores and by Participating Investigators using program resources will be posted in databases maintained by the Information & Bioinformatics Core (B). All participants of the program will be able to monitor up-to-date progress for any GBP by visiting the Consortium website and viewing posted data.

The Steering Committee sets priorities and milestones for each of the scientific Cores with substantial input from the Cores and Participating Investigators. Resources produced by the scientific Cores are made available to Participating Investigators to perform experiments that will address Specific Aims for one or more GBPs. The Scientific Cores are themselves strengthened by their interaction with the Participating Investigators who provide expertise or technology or both.

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University of Michigan

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. IIS 0085951. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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