History
Over the past three decades the scale of biomedical research has changed dramatically as biologists have followed the pattern established in the early 20th century by physical scientists. During this period biomedical science has been dominated by reductionism, where living things have been further and further broken down into the smallest of their component parts - in other words, biologists have disassembled the systems they are studying. Now with the availability of genomic information and the development of powerful proteomic and imaging technologies, there is the exciting possibility of integrating knowledge at the molecular and cellular levels to understand how cells, tissues and organisms actually function. In other words, biologists now seek to study systems that are intact and working.
To accomplish this integration, the structure of biomedical research must also evolve: from single, researchers and discrete collaborations between individual scientists, to multi-laboratory groups organized into even larger networks that bring biologists together with physicists, chemists, and computer scientists. By engaging broadly trained teams of scientists, some of the biggest questions in biology and medicine can be addressed at a speed and scale that promise wide impact on health and society. The importance and, indeed, necessity of collaboration are fully understood and appreciated by scientists and by university administrators today, but the nature and structure of those collaborations vary widely.
The visionary contribution of the Searle family and the Chicago Community Trust was to suggest a geographic focus and structured framework for scientific collaboration. Could scientists at Northwestern, UIC, and University of Chicago be encouraged to reorient their collaborative interactions and establish research and training programs that emphasize the Chicago area? And, would the administrations at the respective institutions develop common protocols to facilitate these interactions and encourage, and support this bold and far-reaching initiative? The immediate and long-term consequence of this "CBC Initiative," therefore, is to promote the development of the Chicago region as a leading center of excellence for biomedical research and training, recognized nationally and internationally. This is the challenge that the scientists involved with the CBC have set as their goal.
The Chicago Biomedical Consortium is an effort to respond to that challenge and give life to this exciting vision. Begun in early 2002 with support from a planning grant from The Searle Funds of The Chicago Community Trust, the CBC has been a forum for discussion among scientists from UIC, University of Chicago, and Northwestern. Three years of ongoing conversations and active collaboration have strengthened a common resolve among research scientists and administrative leaders and shaped a common goal to establish the CBC as a powerful agent to transform biomedical research and education in Chicago into a collaborative enterprise.