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Table 1 Attributes of each of the tiers

From: Genomic information infrastructure after the deluge

 

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Goal

Explore and analyze new areas of biology

Organize an appropriate area of biology

Aggregate across all biology, provide information infrastructures

Main style of funding

Response-mode and strategic grants for specific key datasets

Strategic grants for an area of biology, with portions of response-mode grants for specific datasets

Infrastructure funds, coupled to portions of strategic grants for specific biological areas

Time horizon of group

Grant-driven, 3-5 years

Strategic grant driven, 5-10 years

Infrastructure driven, 10-20 years

Examples

Many response-mode laboratories in universities and academic institutions

Bioinformatics resource centers (BRCs), model organism databases

EBI (Ensembl, Ensembl Genomes), NCBI (RefSeq)