George M. Church

PhD students from (* = main training programs for our group):
• Harvard: HILS (Biophysics* , BBS* , MCB)
• MIT: HST*, Chemistry, EE/CS, CSBi, Physics, Math.
• Boston Univ.: Bioinformatics
• Cambridge-UK: Genetics

• Publications , NIH_CV , Other lab members
• Technology transfer & Commercial Scientific Advisory Roles
• Personal info
• Director of Research Centers: DOE-HGP, CCG, GtL(SBP), CEIGI, CEGS(PGP)
• Related Research Centers, MolTools

Biographical Sketch (93 words):
Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Computational Genetics. 1984 Harvard PhD included the first direct genomic sequencing method, molecular multiplexing tags, which lead to automation & software used at Genome Therapeutics Corp. for the first commercial genome sequence -- pathogen, Helicobacter in 1994. This multiplex solid-phase sequencing evolved into polonies (1999), ABI-SOLiD (2005) & open-source Polonator.org (2007). Innovations in homologous recombination and array-based DNA reading & writing lead to current research and new ethics/safety strategies in Personal Genomics (PGP, 23andme, Knome) & synthetic biology (Codon Devices, SynBERC, LS9).

Biographical Sketch (168 words) emphazing training:
George Church is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Computational Genetics. With degrees from Duke University in Chemistry and Zoology, he co-authored research on 3D-software & RNA structure with Sung-Hou Kim. His PhD from Harvard in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology with Wally Gilbert included the first direct genomic sequencing method in 1984; initiating the Human Genome Project then as a Research Scientist at newly-formed Biogen Inc. and a Monsanto Life Sciences Research Fellow at UCSF with Gail Martin. He invented the broadly-applied concepts of molecular multiplexing and tags, homologous recombination methods, and array DNA synthesizers. Technology transfer of automated sequencing & software to Genome Therapeutics Corp. resulted in the first commercial genome sequence (the human pathogen, H. pylori, 1994). He has served in advisory roles for 12 journals (including Nature Molecular Systems Biology), 5 granting agencies and 24 biotech companies (e.g. recemtly founding Codon Devices and LS9). Current research focuses on integrating biosystems-modeling with the Personal Genome Project & synthetic biology.