W
ALKING ACROSS THE NEW DNAINSPIRED BRIDGE
OVER 13TH STREET ON THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE UF CAMPUS, PATRICK CONCANNON LOOKS DOWN AND SEES REMNANTS OF OLD RAILROAD TRACKS EMBEDDED IN THE GROUND AND THE CONCEPT OF THE RAILS MORPHING INTO THE ARMS OF A DOUBLE-HELIX MOLECULE CHANGES HIS WHOLE PERSPECTIVE ON THE BRIDGE.
“The parallel railroad tracks uniting in the double-helix are a great metaphor for what we’re trying to do at the Genetics Institute,” says Concannon, the institute’s new director. “Through the common use of genetics tools, the institute brings together disciplines that might once have been on parallel tracks, never intersecting.” Changing perspectives about the potential in DNA is key to Concannon’s new role as director of the UF Genetics Institute. Since arriving from the University of Virginia in February, Concannon has been focused on bringing together research from diverse parts of the University of Florida
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— computer science, entomology, bacteriology and mathematics, for instance — so people can see things from different perspectives. His own perspective embraces everything from the genes he studies in his laboratory to the scientists who work in the UF Genetics Institute. Concannon has made a career out of bringing together diverse fields of science and pioneering new areas of research. His research has spanned immunology, genetics, epidemiology and molecular biology. He has worked with cancer patients and diabetics, as well as patients with extremely rare diseases. His research interests have two things in common — they allow him to work on subjects that he finds compelling and they help him make a contribution to society. So when he came to interview for the position as director of the UF Genetics Institute, he found the diverse interests and disciplines of its members to be a perfect match. “I was struck by the unique opportunities the Genetics Institute affords for interactions between researchers in different disciplines,” Concannon says. As someone who has always approached scientific research from an interdisciplinary perspective, he sees his role as continuing to foster and
support that atmosphere among his new colleagues. “Now I have a much larger canvas to paint on,” he says. The Genetics Institute includes more than 230 researchers in different colleges and on different campuses, and Concannon has been visiting with as many of the scientists as possible to get a sense of the strengths and challenges the institute faces. One of the institute’s strengths lies in its diversity: Researchers study aspects of the genetics of insects, plants, pathogens and humans. The targets differ, but the quest to understand these organisms at the genetic level ties the research together. Indeed, Concannon’s own research reads like a multidisciplinary manifesto. He examines the role of genetics in areas as diverse as Type 1 diabetes, breast cancer and radiation sensitivity, and malnutrition. His laboratory has more than $12 million in support from federal and non-profit organizations. “I enjoy science in the broadest sense,” Concannon says. “It allows you to wake up in the morning and say, ‘I wonder why something is the way it is.’ If you want to study something, you just need to get the funding to do so.” He sees the evolution of his research as a microcosm for the field of genetics