George Church

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George Church

Born 1954
Citizenship U.S.
Nationality U.S.
Fields Genetics
Institutions Harvard, MIT
Alma mater Duke, Harvard

George Church (1954- ) is an American molecular geneticist. He is currently Professor of Genetics [1] at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences & Technology [2] at Harvard and MIT.

With Walter Gilbert he developed the first direct genomic sequencing method in 1984[3] and helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 [4] while he was a Research Scientist at newly-formed Biogen Inc. He invented the broadly-applied concepts of molecular multiplexing and tags[5], homologous recombination methods [6], and DNA array synthesizers. Technology transfer of automated sequencing & software to Genome Therapeutics Corp. resulted in the first commercial genome sequence, (the human pathogen, Helicobacter pylori) in 1994 [7].

He initiated the Personal Genome Project (PGP) [8] in 2005 and research on synthetic biology. He is director of the U.S. Department of Energy Center on Bioenergy at Harvard & MIT [9] and director of the National Institutes of Health (NHGRI) Center of Excellence in Genomic Science at Harvard, MIT & Washington University [10].

He has been advisor to 22 companies, most recently co-founding (with Joseph Jacobson, Jay Keasling, and Drew Endy) Codon Devices, a biotech startup dedicated to synthetic biology. With their proprietary BioFAB™ platform, Codon Devices produces the DNA or protein sequences anybody orders.[11] With Chris Somerville he founded LS9, which is focused on biofuels or renewable petroleum technologies.[12]. He is a senior editor for Nature EMBO Molecular Systems Biology.

[edit] References

  1. ^ HMS Genetics Faculty
  2. ^ HST
  3. ^ Church GM, Gilbert W (1984). "Genomic Sequencing". Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 81: 1991–5. doi:10.1073/pnas.81.7.1991. PMID 6326095. 
  4. ^ Cook-Deegan RM (1989). "The Alta summit, December 1984". Genomics 5: 661–3. doi:10.1016/0888-7543(89)90042-6. PMID 2613249. 
  5. ^ Church GM, Kieffer-Higgins S. (1984). "Multiplex Sequencing". Science 240: 185–8. doi:10.1126/science.3353714. PMID 3353714. 
  6. ^ Link AJ, Phillips D, Church GM (1997). "Methods for generating precise deletions and insertions in the genome of wild-type Escherichia coli: application to open reading frame characterization". J Bacteriol. 179: 6228–37. PMID 9335267. 
  7. ^ "Capitalizing on the genome" (1996). Nature Genetics 13: 1. doi:10.1038/ng0596-1. PMID 8673083. [1]
  8. ^ Church GM (2005). "The personal genome project". Mol Syst Biol. 1: 0030. doi:10.1038/msb4100040. PMID 16729065. 
  9. ^ DOE Genomes to Life Center
  10. ^ Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science Awards
  11. ^ Herper M (2006). "Photoshop For DNA". Forbes. [2]
  12. ^ San Francisco Business Times - March 12, 2007

[edit] External links

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