Where Technology meets Biology

Stanford University has announced the recipients of the first Bio-X research
grants, which will provide $3 million to each of 19 projects. The Bio-X
program, supported by a $150 million donation from Netscape cofounder Jim
Clark and a $60 million anonymous donation, will bring together scientists
from every discipline to work on a wide range of problems. For example, a
neurobiologist will work with an ophthamologist, a chemical engineer, and an
electrical engineer on a project to restore sight by attaching a digital
camera to a person's retinal cells. Other projects will involve human tissue
engineering and the newly sequenced human genome. The Bio-X program will
receive a home in 2003 when the $150 million Clark Center opens. The center
will encourage interaction among scientists, researchers, and students from
different areas. Interdisciplinary research such as this is catching on in
universities across the country as new technology allows previously
undreamed-of advances in science. Channing Robertson, chemical engineering
professor and Bio-X committee member, says science is "slopping over the
sides of the disciplines, and that's where the interesting stuff is going to
happen." (SiliconValley.com, 5 October 2000)

http://biochem.stanford.edu/biox/index.html