Precision Convergence Webinar Series: November 16, 2021
The Earth BioGenome Project: Convergence Science at the Nexus of the Global Biodiversity and Climate Crises
Presented by Dr. Harris Lewin
Life on Earth is in the midst of global biodiversity crises, with species disappearing at over 1,000 times the natural extinction rate. Extinction is irreversible, eradicating genetic diversity that has taken millions of years to evolve. This so-called 6th Mass Extinction threatens vital ecosystems on which humans depend. It may not be possible to slow or halt biodiversity loss without a deeper understanding of the origins, evolution, adaptability, and ecological functions of diverse species. In addition, the rapidly growing worldwide bioeconomy and emerging needs in pandemic responsiveness require broadening our understanding of life’s biodiversity. The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) aims to sequence, catalog, and characterize the genomes of all of Earth’s plant, animal, and other eukaryotic biodiversity. The ultimate aim is to use these genomes as a foundation for revealing the “rules of life,” i.e., how biological complexity arose, the relationship between genotype and phenotype, and how biological systems evolve under changing environmental conditions. Accomplishing these goals requires convergence science that is coordinated at global scale. I will discuss the organization and strategy employed by the EBP, as well as early progress and the critical challenges ahead.
With a high-level panel of leaders in science, technology, on-the-ground action, investment, and policy including Co-Chairs Laurette Dubé and Shawn Brown
About the speaker
Harris A. Lewin is the Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Evolution and Ecology and at the University of California, Davis where he also holds joint appointments in the School of Veterinary Medicine and the John Muir Institute for the Environment. From 2011-2016, he served as the UC Davis Vice Chancellor for Research. Prior to that he spent 27 years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he held the E.W. and J.M. Gutgsell Endowed Professorship in Immunogenetics, with a primary appointment in the Department of Animal Sciences and was a member of the Center for Advanced Study. Lewin served as Director of the University of Illinois Biotechnology Center, Founding Director of the W.M. Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics, and Founding Director of the Institute for Genomic Biology. Lewin’s current research interest is in mammalian genome evolution as it relates to adaptation, speciation, and the origins of cancer. In 2017, Lewin co-founded the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) and currently serves as the Chair of the EBP Working Group. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was elected as a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. In 2011, Lewin was awarded the Wolf Prize in Agriculture, and in 2013 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
About the series
The Precision Convergence series is launched to catalyze unique synergy between, on the one hand, novel partnerships across sciences, sectors and jurisdictions around targeted domains of real-world solutions, and on the other hand, a next generation convergence of AI with advanced research computing and other data and digital architectures such as PSC’s Bridges-2, and supporting data sharing frameworks such as HuBMAP, informing in a real time as possible the design, deployment and monitoring of solutions for adaptive real-world behavior and context.
The Precision Convergence Webinar Series is co-hosted by The McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE) at McGill University and The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, a joint computational research center between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.