University of Maryland - Institute for Genome Sciences

Formed in May 2007, the Institute for Genome Sciences is part of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is housed in the BioPark complex on the University of Maryland Baltimore campus.

Members of the IGS team have helped revolutionize genomic discoveries in medicine, agriculture, environmental science and biodefense.
The Institute is led by Claire M. Fraser Ph.D., a preeminent genome scientist and microbiologist and a team of investigators who have been working on the cutting edge of genomic research for the past 15 years. Members of the IGS team have helped revolutionize genomic discoveries in medicine, agriculture, environmental science and biodefense. By applying genomic tools to clinical research, these investigators are creating new dynamics for understanding individual differences in our susceptibility to disease, for understanding the role of our bodies' microorganisms in health and disease, and for exploring new personalized therapeutics. IGS investigators are also leading the development of the new field of microbial forensics.

In the years since IGS was created, the institute has become a leading center for major biological initiatives currently underway including the NIH-funded Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and the NIAID-sponsored Genomic Sequencing Center for Infectious Diseases (GSCID).