The Yale University Physics Department announces two new initiatives: the creation of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Institute for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences, and the launch of a new Integrated Graduate Program in Physical and Engineering Biology, which is accepting applications now and will welcome the first students Fall 2009. It is now broadly appreciated that Physics and a physics-inspired approach – namely to organize and understand complex phenomena via mathematical models that can be compared quantitatively to experiments – can provide valuable new ways of thinking about important problems in biology and the life sciences. Physicists are also especially comfortable with developing new instruments and technologies that can be applied in biology. The result has been the emergence of a new subfield at the interface of physics, biology and engineering. Positioned at the intersection of these disciplines, the Sackler Institute will bring physicists, biologists, and engineers together to carry out transformative research in the biological and life sciences. The Sackler Institute will also provide some graduate student support and fund the development of new classes – including a novel physics/biology laboratory class.