HMS is searching for two new senior faculty members, the first step toward the center’s goal of five to 10 senior appointments, Mason said. He said that with 10 to 15 junior faculty, as well as technicians and administrators, the center’s staff could number as many as 200.

The center is in the process of building “service centers” that would allow researchers from across the hospitals and the University to conduct genomics research without having to invest in expensive technologies on their own.

And, by this summer, Mason said the center plans to have a Cambridge-based facility that would collect and test human DNA up and running.

In the meantime, the center plans to produce an $8 to $10 million big-screen IMAX movie about genomics to advertise its work.

The opening of the HMS-Partners center comes as the University turns more and more of its attention to programs in genetics and genomics.

University President Lawrence H. Summers has said expansion in the life sciences—and genetics in particular—will be crucial in Harvard’s future.

He has spoken of harnessing the revolution in genetics to make Boston a “Silicon Valley” for biomedical research. Since Summers’ arrival, a plan to use University land in Allston for a new science campus has gained greater attention.

According to Mason, the new genome center’s director has met with the University president and “is thrilled to death” when Summers talks about a revolution in the life sciences.

“They are definitely on the same page,” Mason said.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.