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Scientific Advisory Board

Co-Chairs of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics

Scientific Advisory Board for the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics Members

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D.

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is one of leading scientists of the 21st century for his visionary contributions in genomic research. He is founder and President of the J. Craig Venter Institute and the J. Craig Venter Science Foundation. The Venter Institute conducts basic research that advances the science of genomics; specializes in high volume genome sequencing, and explores the ethical and policy implications of genomic discoveries and advances. Venter earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology, both from the University of California at San Diego. He was a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, before moving to the National Institutes of Health. While on faculty at the National Institutes of Health, Venter developed expressed sequence tags or EST's, a revolutionary new strategy for discovering genes.

In 1992, he founded The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). There, he and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, pioneering the new whole genome shotgun technique. In 1998, Venter became the first President of Celera Genomics to sequence the human genome using the whole genome shotgun technique, new mathematical algorithms, and new automated DNA sequencing machines. The completed sequence of the human genome was published in February 2001 in the journal, Science. In addition to the human genome, Venter and his team at Celera sequenced the fruit fly, mouse, and rat genomes.

In 2003, Venter launched a global expedition to obtain and study microbes from environments ranging from the world's oceans to urban centers. This mission, now in progress, is yielding insights into genes that make up the vast realm of microbial life. Research at the Venter Institute reflects Venter's interests in advancing the science of genomics and in applying genomic advances to some of the world's most vexing public health and environmental challenges. Major research foci include human genomic medicine, environmental and evolutionary genomics (which includes the Venter Institute Global Sampling Mission), biological energy production, synthetic biology, and the intersection between genomics and environmental and energy policy.

Laurence H. Kedes, M.D.

At the helm of the IGM and the Program in Gene Therapy is Dr. Laurence H. Kedes. He holds the William M. Keck Professorship at USC. Trained as both a physician and a scientist, Dr. Kedes directs the institute in its commitment to advancing scientific understanding of human disease. Dr. Kedes is a molecular geneticist. He was among the first to demonstrate the organization of genes in animal cells, and presently, Dr. Kedes focuses his research on the genetic regulation of muscle and heart cells. Dr. Kedes is now the Senior Advisor to the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics and chairman of the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Kedes received his M.D. from Stanford University in 1962. Prior to joining USC, Dr. Kedes was a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University.

Samir K. Brahmachari, Ph.D.

Samir K. Brahmachari took over as Director of IGIB (formerly Centre for Biochemical Technology) on the 11th day of August in 1997. Before he joined the CSIR family he was a professor at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, another premier Scientific Institute of the Country. Dr. Brahmachari has been involved in issues relating to Human Genome research ethics and Human Rights. As a member of the steering committee of the International Human Rights Commission he has contributed to the formulation of the draft guidelines in terms of benefit sharing by the populations that are the part of the research endeavor as resources of genetic material and addressed issues of unethical exploitation of genetic resources of the Third world. His contribution in India in promoting genomics research through thrust area development in granting agencies, lectures, courses and human-resource training is very significant. Dr. Brahmachari has contributed significantly in promoting industry-academia interactions through novel program of knowledge partnerships in genomics and bioinformatics. He received his B.S. in Chemistry with honors and his M.S. in Physical Chemistry from St. Xaviers College, Calcutta University. Dr. Brahmachari received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.

Charles Cantor, Ph.D.

Dr. Cantor serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at Sequenom Inc., which is a genetics discovery company with tools, information and strategies for determining the medical impact of genes and genetic variations. Dr. Cantor was earlier the chair and a professor in the department of biomedical engineering and biophysics and the director of the Center for advanced Biotechnology at Boston University. Prior to this, Dr. Cantor held positions in at Columbia University. He was also the director of the Human Genome Center Project of the department of Energy at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. In addition, he serves as a consultant to more than 16 biotechnology firms and has published more than 325 peer-reviewed articles. He was also granted 26 US patents and co-authored a three-volume textbook on biophysical chemistry. He recently completed the first textbook on Genomics titled as 'The Science and Technology of the Human Genome Project'.

Dr. David Cox, MD, Ph. D.

Dr. Cox is a co-founder of Perlegen, and has been Chief Scientific Officer of the company since its formation in 2000. Dr. Cox was Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine as well as the co-director of the Stanford Genome Center. He obtained his A.B. and M.S. degrees from Brown University in Rhode Island and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington, Seattle. He completed a Pediatric Residency at the Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut and was a Fellow in both genetics and pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Cox is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Medical Genetics. He was an active participant in the large scale mapping and sequencing efforts of the Human Genome Project while carrying out research involving the molecular basis of human genetic disease. Dr. Cox has been a member of several commissions and boards, including the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) and the Health Sciences Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine. He has also served on a number of international committees, including the Council of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has served on numerous editorial boards. Dr. Cox’s honors include election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

David Galas, Ph.D.

David J. Galas, PhD is Professor at the Institute for Systems Biology and Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Battelle Memorial Institute, an international non-profit science and technology organization. He was previously Chancellor, Chief Scientific Officer and Norris Professor of Applied Life Science at the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences (KGI), in Claremont CA. Before founding and developing KGI, a new research and educational institution in the applied life sciences, Dr. Galas served as President and Chief Scientific Officer of Seattle-based Chiroscience R&D Inc., a genomics and drug discovery company. This company was formed through the acquisition of Darwin Molecular Corporation, which Dr. Galas co-founded in 1993. Prior to his involvement in the biotechnology industry, Dr. Galas served as Director for Health and Environmental Research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, where he headed the DOE's Human Genome Project from 1990 to 1993, on leave from the University of Southern California, where was Professor of Molecular Biology for twelve years, and directed the Molecular Biology section of the Biological Science Department.

Dr. Galas' formal educational training was not in molecular biology, but in physics. He received his PhD in physics from the University of California, Davis-Livermore, and his undergraduate degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He has also held research positions at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and the University of California's Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. His broad research interests include areas of molecular biology and human genetics, the development and application of new technologies in the life sciences, and the understanding of complex biological networks. He is the recipient of several awards including the Smithsonian Institution-Computer World Pioneer award in 1999. He has served on many federal, university and corporate boards and advisory committees, including the National Research Council Board on Life Science, the Board of Directors of the Hertz Foundation, and the National Cancer Policy Board. He is a lifetime National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences.

Robert J. Hariri, MD, Ph.D.

Dr. Robert J. Hariri, Chief Executive Officer of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, is a scientist, neurosurgeon, inventor and businessman who has established himself as a recognized leader in the development of new human cellular and tissue therapeutics. As founder of LifebankUSA, Dr. Hariri served as Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer before it was acquired by now parent company Celgene Corporation. He has made his life's work the quest to bring cells into the mainstream therapeutic marketplace so we can better treat and in some cases eradicate diseases such as leukemia and other cancers, anemias, heart disease, diabetes, paralysis and neurogenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Dr. Hariri has held various faculty positions at the Cornell University Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences, earning a number of academic and professional honors. Dr. Hariri received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University and his surgical training at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Lee Hood, MD, Ph.D.

Dr. Hood's research has focused on the study of molecular immunology, biotechnology, and genomics. His professional career began at Caltech where he and his colleagues pioneered four instruments — the DNA gene sequencer and synthesizer, and the protein synthesizer and sequencer — which comprise the technological foundation for contemporary molecular biology. In particular, the DNA sequencer has revolutionized genomics by allowing the rapid automated sequencing of DNA, which played a crucial role in contributing to the successful mapping of the human genome during the 1990s. In 1992, Dr. Hood moved to the University of Washington as founder and Chairman of the cross-disciplinary Department of Molecular Biotechnology. In 2000, he co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington to pioneer systems approaches to biology and medicine. Most recently, Dr. Hood's lifelong contributions to biotechnology have earned him the prestigious 2004 Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics. He was also awarded the 2003 Lemelson—MIT Prize for Innovation and Invention, the 2002 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology and the 1987 Lasker Prize for his studies on the mechanism of immune diversity. He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers, received 14 patents, and has co-authored textbooks in biochemistry, immunology, molecular biology, and genetics, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Association of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Hood has also played a role in founding numerous biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Systemix, Darwin and Rosetta.

Doron Lancet, Ph.D.

Doron Lancet received his B.Sc. degree in chemistry and Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His Ph.D. degree was in chemical immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot. Since 1981 he has been on the faculty of the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he is currently Full Professor. He headed Weizmann’s Department of Membrane Research and Biophysics. He pioneered genome research in Israel, and currently is the head of the Crown Human Genome Center at the Weizmann Institute and of Israel’s National Laboratory for Genome Infrastructure. His research interests span human genome research, the genetic basis sense of smell, bioinformatics (the merger of biology and computing) and the evolution of life on earth. Prof. Lancet's team has pioneered the studies of the molecular basis olfaction, discovering how smell signals are amplified and terminated. They also developed Gene Cards, a world-known “encyclopedia” of human genes. He received the Hestrin Prize of the Israel Biochemical Society (1986), the First Takasago Award of the American Association for Chemoreception Sciences (1986), and the USA R.H. Wright Award in Olfactory Research (1998). Prof. Lancet has been a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization since 1996.

Hans Lehrach, Ph.D.

Dr. Hans Lehrach is the director of The Department of Vertebrate Genomics at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Genetics in Berlin, Germany. His department is involved in developing techniques and concepts to make a global analysis of the structure and function of all genes in key organism feasible. Under funding from DGHP (German Human Genome Project) and from the NGFN (National Genome Research Network), genomic sequencing in now being carried further on the completion of the human genome, chromosome 22 of chimpanzee, as well as of medically relevant regions of the rat genome. Dr. Lehrach received his degree in Chemistry from the University of Vienna and did his Ph.D. thesis work at the Max-Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany.

Leena Peltonen, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Peltonen is the past president of The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO). She is an Academy Professor in the Departments of Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine in the University of Helsinki and National Public Health Institute in Biomedicum Helsinki, Finland and a visiting professor at Broad Institute in Boston. With over 400 publications, Dr. Peltonen is among leading molecular geneticists world-wide. She is one of the pioneers in the use of genetically isolated populations in the genetics-based identification of disease genes. She was the founding Chair of the Department of Human Genetics at UCLA in 1998-2002. She has served as the member of the UNESCO Bioethics Committee and since 2006, she is a Foreign Associate Member of the National Academies USA, Institute of Medicine (IOM) and a member of the ERC Council.

Edward Rubin, MD, Ph.D.

Dr. Rubin is Head of the Department of Genome Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a position he has held since 1998. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of Rochester. Following a clinical residency and a fellowship in Medical Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco, he became a research associate at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Rubin's research has included the use of comparative genomics to study atherosclerosis and the development of animal models for a variety of conditions including asthma, Down Syndrome, heart disease and sickle cell anemia.

Yoshiyuki Sakaki, Ph.D.

Dr. Sakaki is the director of RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center and Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo. He was the President of HUGO (Human Genome Organization) from 2002-2005. He has represented Japan in the international Human Genome Project, and the RIKEN team led by him made significant contributions to the completion of the human genome sequence. He was awarded to “Chevalier” from the French Government in 2001 in recognition of his contribution to the scientific cooperation between France and Japan. He was also awarded the Award of Japanese Society of Human Genetics in 2001, the Medal of Purple Ribbon from the Japanese Government in 2003, and the Chu-nichi Culture Award from the Chu-nichi Culture Foundation in 2003.

Hamilton O. Smith, M.D.

Hamilton Smith shared a Nobel Prize in 1978 for the discovery of restriction enzymes, a kind of molecular scissors used by bacteria to cut up threatening viruses and by biologists as an essential tool for manipulating DNA. In his current position, he is working to design and use microbes for carbon sequestration, clean energy production, and other applications. Dr. Smith was recruited to Johns Hopkins University in 1967, where he remained for thirty years. He was named the American Cancer Society Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biology and Genetics in 1998. -In 1993, Dr. Smith joined the scientific advisory council of the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). There he and Craig Venter were the first to decode the genome of a bacterium, proving the feasibility of rapidly determining the sequence of many organisms. As senior director of DNA resources at the biotech company Celera Genomics, Dr. Smith helped lead an effort to sequence the human genome, which was completed in 2000. Dr. Smith did undergraduate work at the University of Illinois and the University of California at Berkeley. He earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins.