Church George (US)
George Church (US), Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Computational Genetics. His 1984 Harvard PhD included the first direct genomic sequencing, molecular multiplexing and barcode tags, which led to automation and software used for the first commercial genome sequence (of the pathogen Helicobacter) in 1994. His multiplex solid-phase sequencing evolved into polonies (1999), ABI-SOLiD (2005), open-source Polonator.org (2007), and Complete Genomics (2008). Innovations in DNA reading, writing and cell/tissue engineering lead to consumer-directed genomics (23andme, Knome) , synthetic biology (SynBERC, Joule, LS9) and new ethics, safety and security strategies. He founded PersonalGenomes.org, which provides the world’s only open-access information source for human genomic, environmental and trait data (GET). He is director of the NIH CCV Center for Excellence in Genomic Science. He is a member of NAS and NAE and was awarded the Hoogendijk Prize and the Franklin Laureate for Achievement in Science.
