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September 1, 2026
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Northwestern University $30 million over five years to establish a new center aimed at uncovering a hidden layer of information within the human genome.
Called the Center for Genome Intelligence Engineering (GENIE), the multi-institutional Science and Technology Center (STC) will integrate experts in physics, biology, engineering, artificial intelligence (AI) and medicine to understand how the genome’s three-dimensional structure helps cells establish their identities, remember past experiences and respond to their environments.
Led by Northwestern biomedical engineer Vadim Backman, GENIE’s network of researchers ultimately will aim to manipulate this architecture to improve human health. The approach could lead to new ways to help cells withstand injury, restore lost function and regenerate tissues without changing their underlying DNA.
GENIE will be situated within Northwestern’s Querrey Simpson Institute for Regenerative Engineering (QSI RENU), a University-wide institute launched in 2025 with support from trustee Kimberly K. Querrey (’22, ’23 P). QSI RENU unites engineering, medicine and physical and life sciences to develop new approaches for regenerating and restoring damaged tissues and organs. To build on that interdisciplinary foundation and Querrey’s two decades of visionary support of the biosciences, QSI RENU will provide GENIE with an institutional home as the center establishes the new field of genome intelligence engineering. The partnership between GENIE and QSI RENU promises long-term global impact in this new area of science.
Alongside Querrey’s transformative philanthropy, the generosity of several donors was instrumental in bringing this ambitious initiative to fruition, including Susan E. Brice ’92, the Christina Carinato Charitable Foundation, Rob ’92 and Kristin Goldman ’92 (’25, ’27 P), Trustee David A. Sachs ’81 (’15, ’18 P) and other supporters.
“Winning a hyper-competitive NSF STC is a tremendous accomplishment for our Northwestern community,” Northwestern President Mung Chiang said. “GENIE will open a new frontier in understanding the genome and engineering cellular memory. By leading this partnership, the Northwestern team will advance transformational discovery, educate the next generation of researchers and lay the foundation for innovations that improve lives and strengthen the country’s leadership in science and technology.”
Backman’s previous research suggests that the physical organization of the genome represents more than packaging. Genome geometry may help determine which genes a cell uses and when, while also enabling cells to retain a record of previous activity. This “transcriptional memory” can influence how cells respond to future conditions. And changes in the memory may contribute to aging-related decline, cancer, neurodegeneration and other diseases.
“Northwestern’s long tradition of integrating disciplines has made it a natural home for work that treats the genome as both a physical structure and a computational system,” Backman said. “GENIE will extend that convergence across institutions, bringing together people and capabilities that no single field or university could assemble on its own to learn how to read and write this language of life, opening new possibilities for regenerative health, healthy longevity and disease treatment.”
Backman, GENIE’s principal investigator, is the Sachs Family Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. A member of QSI RENU, he also directs Northwestern’s Center for Physical Genomics and Engineering.
GENIE will pursue this work through three integrated research thrusts: understanding the genome’s foundational physics; developing technologies in imaging, computation and AI; and engineering chromatin. Researchers then will put their discoveries to the test in three crosscutting testbeds focused on human health: strengthening cells against injury caused by reduced blood flow, rejuvenating neurons in models of Alzheimer’s disease and regenerating heart muscle cells and neurons affected by aging.
“As a physician-scientist, I am excited by GENIE’s potential to fundamentally change how we approach patient care,” said Dr. Luay Almassalha, GENIE deputy director, Chromatin Engineering Thrust lead and a gastroenterologist at Northwestern Medicine. “Imagine a future in which we can help tissues withstand injury, recover function or regenerate before irreversible damage occurs — for example, by resetting harmful cellular ‘inflammatory memories’ associated with ulcerative colitis or protecting a transplanted liver from ischemic injury. By uncovering the principles of genome geometry, we can begin to understand the genome not simply as a sea of letters, but as a physical language that takes shape in three dimensions and helps cells remember, respond and function.”
“I am so proud and excited for Drs. Backman and Almassalha on this STC award from the NSF, as this work will pioneer a new frontier at the intersection of chromatin mechanics, engineering and medicine,” said Dr. John Pandolfino, chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Northwestern Medicine and the Hans Popper Professor of Medicine at Feinberg. “The translational applications will transform how we diagnose and treat disease.”
A key piece of GENIE’s theoretical foundation comes from Igal Szleifer, the Christina Enroth-Cugell Professor of Biomedical Engineering at McCormick and a professor of chemistry at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Working with Backman and colleagues, Szleifer developed a mathematical model to explain how chromatin folds into tiny, tightly packed domains. By reproducing patterns seen through imaging, the model helps connect the genome’s physical structure to transcriptional memory.
“By bringing theoretical and experimental work together, we can move from reconstructing the genome’s organization to using the physical principles that govern it to predict its effects on cell behavior,” said Szleifer, who will lead GENIE’s multiscale molecular modeling effort within the Enabling Technologies Thrust. “GENIE will allow us to test the rules of how genome structure encodes cellular memory and whether we can learn to program that memory predictably.”
Because genome geometry is physical, GENIE researchers will explore ways to physically reshape it. One approach will use CRISPR-based tools to change how regions of chromatin interact and fold — without editing the DNA itself. Another will investigate whether low-energy electromagnetic fields — delivered from outside the body — can be used to influence chromatin organization. A third will use engineered biomaterials to physically reshape cells and, in turn, the genome inside them.
