The UO’s highly regarded program in genetic studies might soon gain more clout, as highlighted in a story on the Clusters of Excellence program in The Register-Guard.

The story, in the Aug. 25 edition, describes the proposed addition of five new faculty members to join the UO in the Biological Networks Analysis cluster. The proposal calls for “two luminary senior researchers and three junior faculty,” according to UO biology professor Bill Cresko, one of the lead researchers on the proposal.

The UO already has one potential hire in Eugene on a temporary basis. Curtis Huttenhower of the Harvard School of Public Health is currently working at the UO on a six-month sabbatical and has said he would like to join the research team here.

“It’s a great group; it’s a great school,” Huttenhower told the newspaper.

UO is looking into biological networks to figure out how diseases function. The genetic basis for many diseases is still a mystery, and the UO hopes to unlock answers with the help of new faculty.

“We’re on the cutting edge in ways that are right up there with the best universities in the world,” Cresko said.