UVic Biologist Heads Major Genomics Research Project

UVic biologist Dr. Ben Koop is one of several B.C. scientists who will benefit from $136 million in research funding announced by Genome Canada last week.

The federal granting agency is awarding $35 million over four years to Genome BC, one of five regional centres across the country, to support large-scale genomics research projects in fisheries, forestry, agriculture, the environment, and human health. The funding is conditional on Genome BC raising another $33 million in matching funds from the provincial government and other sources.

Koop is co-leader of the Genomics Research on Atlantic Salmon Project (GRASP), which will bring together universities, government agencies, research institutes and industry from B.C. and across Canada, and tie into international genomics research programs taking place in Ireland and Norway. The project's other co-leader is Dr. Willie Davidson, a biologist and dean of science at Simon Fraser University.

The project will coordinate all aspects of genomic research on salmon and use the information to improve fish husbandry techniques, evaluate the health of wild populations, and enhance environmental monitoring from freshwater to ocean conditions.

"Our first step is to define the genome of Atlantic salmon," says Koop. They'll do that by building a salmon gene "chip," a glass slide about 1 x 3 inches in diameter on which they can place and monitor about 40,000 genes and how they're expressed.

"From the chip we can determine what the various genes do in different conditions," he explains. They'll be able to see which genes are turned on and off in, for example, fresh and saltwater environments, or upstream and downstream from an industrial site, or in fast and slow-growing fish, or healthy and sick fish.

What they find out will be useful for all species of salmon. "All the salmonids, which include Pacific salmon and trout, are so closely related that the information we get from one is applicable to the others," says Koop.

Several other UVic researchers are involved in the GRASP project -- all from the department of biochemistry and microbiology. They are: Dr. Bob Olafson, who will use advanced proteomics technologies to identify key salmon proteins and their genes; Drs. Bill Kay and Terry Pearson, who will investigate the relationship of salmon genes to pathogens; and Dr. Caren Helbing, who will adapt the chips for monitoring gene expression in response to various environmental conditions.

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