George M. Church

George M. Church (born in 1954, Florida) is an American biochemist, molecular engineer, geneticist. He is currently a Professor at Harvard Medical School. (Photo: Speakerpedia)

Education and Experiences

19xx BS, Duke University
1977-1984 Ph.D, Harvard University (Professor Walter Gilbert)
1984 Worked at Biogen
19xx Postdoc, University of California, San Francisco (Professor Gail R. Martin)
1986 Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
200x Robert Winthrop Professor, Harvard Medical School

Awards and Honors

2009 American Society for Microbiology Promega Biotechnology Research Award,
2010 Triennial International Steven Hoogendijk Award
2010 Mass High Tech All-Star Award
2011 Bower award

Research

Development of technology for analyzing and interpreting genome sequence

In 1984, Church developed a direct genomic sequence analysis method under the supervision of Walter Gilbert.^[1] He was involved in the launch of the human genome project and invented highly versatile methods such as molecular multiplexing and bar code tags. With this technique, first genomic analysis of the Helicobacter pylori was achieved in 1994. His technology contributes to the development of almost all next-generation DNA sequencers.
In 2005, he set up a personal genome project and served as a director.

Contribution to genome editing technology

Optimizing the genome-editing technique CRISPR/Cas9 and applied to human iPS cells, Prof. Church demonstrated the possibility of precise gene therapy.

Comments

One of the pioneers in synthetic biology and individual genomics. Known as “father of synthetic biology”.
Written more than 430 papers, possessing over 90 patents.

References

“Genomic sequencing” Church, G.M.; Gilbert, W. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1984, 81, 1991. doi:10.1073/pnas.81.7.1991
“Profile of George Church” Nair, P. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2012, 109, 11893. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1204148109