The Center for Molecular Genetics (CMG) is an Organized Reseach Unit (ORU) at the University of California, San Diego.  It was formed in 1985 with a mission to offer support and training in the areas of molecular genetics and signal transduction to the biology and biomedical community at UCSD and its neighboring institutions.  The facility shares a central location in UCSD's biomedical corridor with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Division of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.  The corridor spans from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), through the major biology and chemistry basic research buildings, to the School of Medicine and medical facilities.

ORU:  The ORU consists of both a physical facility and a much larger alliance of participating laboratories.  The CMG facility was officially opened in May, 1987, and houses the ORU's administration offices, conference rooms and six state-of-the-art laboratories.  CMG accommodates faculty from the departments of Biology and Pediatrics. The Biology sections include Molecular Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Neurobiology, and Ecology, Behavior and Evolution.  CMG is the hub of molecular genetics activities on campus.  This diversity of occupancy evidences the ORU's major commitment to filling a much needed interdepartmental and interdivisional role on this campus.

CMG Faculty:  The full ORU membership is an alliance among laboratories located across 11 departments at UCSD's general campus, School of Medicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  CMG occupies the unique position of serving to bridge the gap between general campus faculty interests and those of researchers in the School of Medicine and at SIO.

CMG Research:  The Center and its members are engaged in interdisciplinary approaches aimed at understanding the molecular basis of development and human heredity with emphasis on questions in developmental biology, gene regulation and signal transduction.  The Center thereby functions as an interface between basic science and clinical applications.  By combining analysis in simpler model systems with those in mouse and humans, the Center's research enhances our understanding of human development, cancer and genetically-based human diseases.  Through the use of molecular genetics, protein structure and biochemistry, CMG members address central issues in cell regulation and inherited genetic disorders.  Members of the Center are asked to participate in Center activities including fund-raising, planning symposia and seminar programs, and policy making.

Goals of the Center include:

• Providing a focal point for common research goals of its members through coordination of research efforts;
• Establishing common resource facilities for use by researchers in all areas of molecular genetics;
• Hosting seminar programs and symposia;
• Building strong interdisciplinary groups within the Center that develop novel approaches to scientific questions by funneling individual interests into overall approaches;
• Promoting interactions among centers in the biomedical area, including the UCSD Cancer Center Institute for Biomedical Engineering and the Stein Institute for Research on Aging;
• Training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the biological, chemical and biomedical sciences;
• Promoting interactions with the local biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries.

Employment opportunities at the Center are advertised in the UCSD Job Bulletin.

Postdoctoral research positions in CMG laboratories are arranged with individual principal investigators.

(UCSD CMG Printer Friendly Page:Mission/History)