BGI Nobel Laureates Archives established at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has received a USD $5 million donation from BGI Group, the global genomics leader headquartered in Shenzhen, China. The gift establishes and preserves the BGI Nobel Laureates Archives, comprising all of the current and future personal collections of Nobel laureates.

The BGI Nobel Laureates Archives currently include Sydney Brenner, Francis Crick, Walter Gilbert, Carol Greider, Alfred Hershey, Barbara McClintock, Hermann Muller, Richard Roberts and James Watson.

The late Sydney Brenner said, “It pleases me greatly to hear that BGI will join in this venture.” Walter Gilbert praised the new archives: “This will be great for BGI, for CSHL, and for science in general,” he said.

BGI shares the roots of human genetics history with CSHL, starting with the Human Genome Project (HGP). BGI grew out of the vision of its founders to participate in the HGP, and led China’s contribution to the effort. Celebrating BGI’s 20 year anniversary, BGI and many of its employees donated to CSHL to protect and digitize the archives, making these resources readily available to the public.

“We appreciate this opportunity for BGIers to contribute to the great course of inheriting, preserving, and more importantly, sharing with and learning from the common heritage of mankind,” said Huanming “Henry” Yang, BGI Co-founder, and Chairman of BGI Research and frequent participant in CSHL’s annual Biology of Genomes meeting.

CSHL President & CEO Bruce Stillman, Ph.D. said “The BGI donation is instrumental to the maintenance and growth of these very important collections at CSHL,” adding that it was “especially meaningful to have our two institutions linked together in perpetuity.”

The CSHL Archives includes the personal collections of nearly two dozen influential scientists. The BGI gift will help CSHL archivists curate and maintain the collections of Nobel laureates and provide the opportunity for scholars to research the history of the life sciences.

To explore the CSHL Archives visit http://library.cshl.edu/archives/

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BGI Group was founded in 1999 with the vision of using genomics to benefit mankind and has since become one of the largest genomics organizations in the world. With a focus on research and applications in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and environmental fields, BGI’s goal is to make state-of-the-art genomics highly accessible to the global research community and clinical markets by integrating broadest array of leading technologies, including BGI’s own sequencing platform, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI also offers a wide portfolio of transformative genetic testing products across major diseases, enabling medical providers and patients worldwide to realize the promise of genomics-based diagnostics and personalized healthcare.

Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,100 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. For more information, visit http://www.cshl.edu