The National Science Foundation has granted $18.4 million to an Antarctic genomic sequencing initiative.
Researchers will produce an AI-supported open-access data portal of Antarctic genomic samples. The Antarctic GIGA-DATA Initiative will be led by a team of researchers across academic institutions, including UC Berkeley integrative biology professor Rauri Bowie.
The initiative will open source Antarctic genome samples from the scientific community and utilize sequencing processes to produce high-quality genomic data. It is set to be a five-year project and launched Thursday.
As co-principal investigator, Bowie will select the invertebrate and vertebrate samples that are used to generate data.
Just 2% of terrestrial species in Antarctica have been sequenced. Bowie aims to prioritize high-quality samples that “cover the full diversity of life” in Antarctica — what he deems the “Rolls-Royce” of genomes.
According to lead researcher Alison Murray, initiative members will focus on the McMurdo Dry Valleys and Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area.
Information generated from the samples will be used to compile a data portal for the public. The data portal will be integrated with user-oriented AI and machine learning tools, meant to aid users’ data exploration.
“Everybody from a high school student, to the general public, to the research community” will be able to explore the available data, Bowie said.
The portal is unique in terms of the breadth of data samples it will integrate into a single infrastructure. It will cover a broad spectrum of single-cell and multi-cell organisms, including eukaryotes, bacteria and archaea.
“A strength and a challenge comes from working across such diverse organisms,” Murray said. “What we’re going to build will be unlike most other databases.”
Researchers additionally plan to launch an early-career training program for student researchers through involvement with the Antarctic GIGA-DATA Initiative. According to Bowie, they aim to involve a large number of undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of academic institutions.
Antarctica hosts a diversity of life, yet little is known about Antarctic genomes. Through this initiative, Bowie hopes to better understand how organisms have adapted to extreme climates.
Bowie and Murray believe the GIGA-DATA Initiative could spur development in a broad array of scientific disciplines, including biotechnology and genomics. Murray hopes that interaction with the initiative’s data portal will spark further innovation from users.
“I think this research is going to have a really profound impact,” Bowie said.