Sali to lead California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3)
Andrej Sali, PhD, faculty member and vice chair, Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS), UCSF Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy has been appointed director of the UCSF arm of the University of California's California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), according to a UCSF announcement made April 9, 2009. In this new role, Sali, who is expert at developing methods to predict and analyze protein structure, will focus on developing new science initiatives among faculty at UCSF through the QB3 program. "That could be basic science, some sort of technology development, some translational research-oriented activity or all of the above. But first, it's just about seeing what concepts and ideas are out there," he explains. Sali assumes the directorship following the tenure of Sarah Nelson, PhD, who co-chairs the BTS department, which was launched February 25, 2009. QB3 is a cooperative research effort among three campuses of the University of California and private industry. It aims to apply the quantitative sciences to a better, integrated understanding of biological systems at all levels of complexity. Many faculty members at UC's San Francisco, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz campuses are affiliates of QB3, and all three campuses have QB3 facilities. The UCSF facility is located at UCSF Mission Bay.