A committee of UW-Madison officials recently selected the five research themes and faculty leaders that will guide UW-Madison's new research facility, the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
The institute, which is currently under construction on University Avenue, will focus on research intended to improve human health. The five selected areas of focus are epigenetics, tissue engineering scaffold research, health technology design, optimization of biology and medicine, and systems biology.
Aside from housing the publicly funded WID, the building will also be home to the privately funded Morgridge Institute for Research.
John Wiley, the interim director of the WID, said the research themes will allow the two facilities to work well together.
It's a very well-balanced list,"" he said. ""[The themes] will complement each other and also work well with the MIR.""
According to Wiley, the chosen themes are designed to help each other, and they all involve information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology. He said they were selected from 26 original theme ideas.
Wiley said experts from across the country and on campus read and reviewed each of the proposed theme ideas before the committee, which included Wiley, Chancellor Biddy Martin and several other UW-Madison officials, made the final decisions.
According to Wiley, the leaders from each theme will now work with the construction crew as the design and construction of the building's interior begins. He said the construction of the building is on schedule and expected to be completed in December 2010.
""I'm happy to be at this point,"" he said. ""I'm looking forward to the building opening.
