CSBE: A Place for Evolutionary Synthesis in North Carolina's Research Triangle

尽管经过200多年的科学探索，生物进化的基本问题仍然没有答案。物种形成是如何发生的？ 基因组和环境因素如何塑造新的突变变异进入进化过程的输入？ 要回答这些和其他主要问题，需要综合有关基因组序列、基因表达、生态学、进化历史和遗传多样性生物的群体遗传过程的知识。这一知识基础非常广泛，要实现综合，就需要来自各种学科的科学家共同努力，配备最先进的信息管理和分析工具。生物进化综合中心（CSBE）的主要使命是通过汇集研究人员和教育工作者、现存数据和信息技术资源，促进生物进化的综合。为了实现其目标，CSBE将开发用于管理生物信息和元信息的新工具和跨学科标准，支持具有广泛实用性的数据分析能力，并托管和管理数据库。 CSBE还将支持教育和推广活动，以提高公众对生物进化科学的理解;促进进化生物学家、工业界和非政府组织之间的互动;并促进代表性不足的群体成员参与进化研究。因此，生物进化综合中心（CSBE）将成为研究、教育和推广的国家重点。

Despite over 200 years of scientific inquiry, fundamental questions in biological evolution remain unanswered. How does speciation happen? How do genomic and environmental factors shape the input of new mutational variation into the evolutionary process? To answer these and other major questions requires synthesizing knowledge about genomic sequences, gene expression, ecology, evolutionary history, and population-genetic processes of phylogenetically diverse organisms. This knowledge base is so broad that achieving synthesis requires the combined efforts of scientists from a wide array of disciplines equipped with cutting-edge information management and analysis tools. The primary mission of the Center for Synthesis in Biological Evolution (CSBE) is to facilitate synthesis in biological evolution by bringing together researchers and educators, extant data and information technology resources. To achieve its goals, CSBE will develop new tools and cross-disciplinary standards for management of biological information and meta-information, support data analysis capabilities with broad utility, and host and curate databases. CSBE will also support education and outreach activities to enhance public understanding of the science of biological evolution; foster interactions between evolutionary biologists, industry and non-governmental organizations; and enhance the participation of members of underrepresented groups in the study of evolution. The Center for Synthesis in Biological Evolution (CSBE) will thus serve as a national focus for research, education and outreach.