New York Gov. George E. Pataki has announced that Cornell University's proposed genomics technologies research center will be designated as a Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) center. The governor has made clear his intention to seek funding for the new center during forthcoming budget negotiations in Albany.

The announcement of the new center was made as Pataki, through the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), made awards totaling $102.5 million for eight STAR centers and five Advanced Research Centers (ARCs) in New York state. Only five of the STAR centers will receive immediate funding.

However, Cornell was awarded $2.6 million by NYSTAR to establish an ARC for plant genomics research and for faculty development. The new center, which will receive $1.6 million, will specialize in plant proteomics and metabolomics, or the study of plant protein composition and plant metabolism for agricultural and medical purposes. The lead investigator on the ARC will be William Crepet, Cornell professor of plant biology. The other primary investigators are Steven Tanksley, Cornell's Liberty Hyde Bailey professor of plant breeding; Klaas Van Wijk, assistant professor of plant biology; and Jocelyn Rose, assistant professor of plant biology.

"It's very enlightened for the state of New York to invest in this. We're really thrilled," says Crepet. "This grant is an early indication of what to expect from Cornell in terms of biology. It's a harbinger of things to come, and these things will come quickly."

The NYSTAR faculty development award of $1 million is designated for the laboratory of Mark Saltzman, professor of chemical engineering.

In addition, Cornell will be a partner in the New York Environmental Quality Systems Center at Syracuse University, which NYSTAR has designated as a STAR center with a grant of $15.9 million. Cornell, with its 11 partners will perform research to improve building environments and urban ecosystems, as well as conduct education programs. Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City was named as a partner in the New York Structural Biology Center at City University of New York, designated by NYSTAR as a STAR center with a grant of $15 million. Weill Cornell and its seven partners will pursue research using the most technologically advanced instrumentation available for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and cryo-electron microscopy.

Cornell's STAR center is being planned around its proposed Genomic Technologies and Information Services Center. In coming years, the university is hoping to construct a new building to house the center. The architect for the project will be Richard Meier (a 1957 Cornell graduate), best known for his Getty Center, a complex of buildings in the Santa Monica hills north of Los Angeles that includes the John Paul Getty Museum.

The Cornell building also will house the Institute for Biotechnology and Life Science Technologies, headed by Stephen Kresovich, professor of plant breeding. The institute includes the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Biotechnology (CAT) and focuses on promoting research, education and technology transfer for applications in agriculture, industry, the environment and medicine.

Cornell recently received $2.8 million over two years from NYSTAR to establish its second CAT. The center, to be called the Alliance for Nanomedical Technologies, will use industrial backing to research and develop microscale optical detection devices.