Kansas City, Mo. (April 24, 2007) – Arcady Mushegian, Ph.D., Director of Bioinformatics, has published his first book, Foundations of Comparative Genomics.

     An overview of some of the most important achievements of computational analysis of genes and genomes, the book presents a historical perspective, beginning with early analysis of individual gene sequences and ending with a present day comparison of gene repertoires encoded by completely sequenced genomes.

     Dr. Mushegian lends his expertise to the underlying scientific principles of comparative genomics, arguing that the completion of many genome sequences launched a new era in biology. He also provides his personal view on several vividly debated issues including the perspectives of systems biology and the prospects of reconstruction of the evolutionary history of life on the basis of complete genomic sequences.

     “This book is about scientific ideas that I believe to be the most important in computational biology and its most accomplished branch — comparative genomics,” said Dr. Mushegian. “The era of completely sequenced genomes is an exciting new age of biology, and I believe that comparative genomics is a crucial concept for this age.”

     Dr. Mushegian’s publication is an important accomplishment for him and for the Stowers Institute.

     “In addition to serving as Director of the Bioinformatics Center and providing the Institute’s scientists with superb collaborative support in computational biology, Arcady has continued his innovative work using computational methods to interpret DNA and protein sequence data,” said Bill Neaves, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Stowers Institute. “His scholarly book is a timely contribution to comparative genomics that builds on his pioneering work more than a decade ago when he analyzed the first microorganism genomes to be sequenced and documented the minimum set of genes required for independent cellular life.”

     Dr. Mushegian holds an academic appointment in the Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics & Immunology at The University of Kansas School of Medicine. His book is available at www.books.elsevier.com.

About the Stowers Institute
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have created combined endowments of $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality.