This was copied off another list and sent to me. [COPIED MATERIAL] [Salt Lake City, Utah site] State Invests in Database for Biotech BY TROY GOODMAN     To further capitalize on Utah's penchant for genealogy, the state has joined forces with the University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute to promote an 11 million-person database for disease and pharmaceutical research.     The GenData project will be run by a new nonprofit enterprise, GenData Research Corp., and will market the existing database to biotech companies and other research groups in the hope of bolstering that segment of Utah's economy. The money, staffing and equipment are backed by state appropriations, the U.'s budget and the cancer institute's fund-raising division.     Announcing GenData's creation during Tuesday night's State of the State address, Gov. Mike Leavitt said the project could fuel a decade-worth of high-paying biotech jobs and earn Utah enough scientific prestige to reap economic payoffs.     "It will attract venture capital and pharmaceutical and medical research organizations from all over the world," Leavitt said during his speech. GenData "will create a scientific treasure, used to cure and treat diseases like diabetes and cancer that touch every family."     The database has been around for more than 20 years -- started by U. researchers who found that Utah families, through the cooperation of The Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints, were willing to share medical histories of themselves and their families for the good of research.     Records show the database now holds 6.5 million pieces of key health data whittled down from 11 million people registered in various paper and computer logs. For instance, the GenData files hold disease records, birth and death certificates, driver licenses and family genealogies dating back to the early 1900s in Utah and Idaho.     Huntsman Cancer Institute Executive Director Stephen Prescott said the database combines vital stats with clinical and genetic information in a way that allows researchers to trace inherited biology with the likely impact of environment -- such as how people's diet, where they lived or their level of medical care played a role in their health status.     Few DNA codes are part of the Utah data project, although important genetic discoveries in breast and colon cancer have evolved from the records.     "Our reasoning is . . . knowing the genetic cause of disease is important, but also knowing the interaction of environment and other population factors could play a huge role in improved science," Prescott said. "This could change how future medicine is practiced."     The Huntsman Cancer Foundation has invested $12 million over the past seven years to expand and update the database, which is maintained on the U. campus and carefully guarded over by Salt Lake City-based researchers. Lawmakers in the 2002 Legislature also appropriated $3.7 million to the project before turning it over to the nonprofit group in September. [COPIED MATERIAL] [Salt Lake City, Utah site]