Empire Genomics

Norma Jean Nowak, Ph.D., is a recognized leader in the field of genomics. Her research was a significant part of the Human Genome Project and microarray-based approaches to understanding heritable disorders and cancer. In 2003, she was named Director of Science and Technology for the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences -- the $150 million complex on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus dedicated to commercializing technologies from the region's medical research and healthcare institutions.

She also holds a joint appointment as the Director of the Microarray and Genomics Facility, a collaborative research lab shared by Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences headquartered at RPCI. Prior to that, she was involved for 14 years in cancer genomics research discovering disease genes and mapping the human genome.

Among her major achievements, Nowak has authored landmark papers describing the cloning of several heritable cancer disorders, including a form of Ataxia Telangiectasia (Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome). Her work on the Human Genome Project was published in the genome issue of Nature. Dr. Nowak led and coordinated the three groups for the NCI extramural Cancer Chromosome Aberration Project. As part of this project, Dr. Nowak also developed BAC based array CGH (Comparative Genomic Hybridization) a microarray-based method for identifying numerical differences in DNA between tumor and normal cells and cells from individuals with genetic disorders. The results of this work were published in Nature Genetics. She also was a key member of the GENSAT project studying spatial and temporal gene expression during development of the central nervous system in mice, and this work was published in the 2003 genome edition of Nature. Most recently, she authored a seminal paper that details the smallest known duplication of chromosome 21 in a Down's Syndrome patient.

Dr. Nowak has received more than $4 million in research grants from the National Institutes of Health and various foundations, has authored or co-authored 90 research articles in leading scientific journals and has served as an associate editor of Physiological Genomics. She joined the editorial board of Cytogenetics and Genome Research as an Associate Editor in 2006.

Dr. Nowak's most recent awards include the American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award for her significant contributions to the rapidly evolving area of Comparitive Genomic Hybridization (CGH) and array CGH. She has also been awarded "The Women of Influence" award presented by Business First of Buffalo, which awarded the top 23 area women who have made contributions to the community in 10 categories.

In October 2008, Dr. Nowak received the Thomas B. Tomasi, MD, PhD, Achievement Award, acknowledging her tireless efforts which have led to significant developments in genetic research.