American Society For Microbiology
2009 Promega Biotechnology Research Award Laureate Print E-mail

George M. Church, Ph.D.,
Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, and Director, Lipper Center for Computational Genetics, Boston, is honored with the Promega Biotechnology Research Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the application of biotechnology through fundamental microbiological research and development. Described as a “truly unique” and “extraordinarily creative” scientist, Church’s forward thinking and wide-range of interests have resulted in numerous new technologies that have led to major advances in the microbiological sciences.

Church earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University in 1984 and for three decades, he has been a leader in biotechnology and its application. The original methods for DNA sequencing were invented in 1977. In 1984, Church proposed, “multiplex sequencing” which was a radical alternative. It was a manual, highly parallel sequencing method that was more productive than current methods. This technology, though never industrialized, was used to sequence the first microbial genome, Helicobacter pylori and the archaeal genome, Methanobacterium theimactotrophicum.

Church’s lab went on to discover novel methods of DNA sequence analysis including polonies on slides read by fluorescent mononucleotides and polymerase and polonies on beads read by fluorescent oligonucleotides and ligase. The commercialization and adoption of this “polony” concept led to the second generation of sequencing technologies. It has transformed the way genomes are analyzed. Others are noted for their contributions, but Church is assigned the central role for his enabling technology. He has licensed patents on these methods to almost all the current DNA sequencing instrumentation companies.

The second generation approach was described in a seminal paper by Church which led, in part, to the foundation of the field of Synthetic Biology. Clifford J. Tabin, Ph.D., Professor, Harvard Medical School and Church’s nominator writes, “Because of the methods he developed, DNA constructs up to 100 kpb long are now being made at a rate of 1 Mbp per month. His lab also developed DNA nanostructures which are used to provide a highly anisotropic medium to help determine NMR structures of membrane proteins which are important pharmaceutical targets.”

One of Church’s supporters, David Botstein, Ph.D., Director, Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, and an American Academy of Microbiology Fellow, credits Church with a leading role in the development of the field of bioinformatics, specifically, assessments of the patterns of gene expression inferred from DNA microarrays and the connection with simple sequence motifs recognized by DNA-binding proteins.

As Tabin notes, “George Church is a ‘truly unique’ and ‘extraordinarily creative’ scientist. These are adjectives too often overused; however, they literally and accurately apply to George. His ability to identify key problems before they are clear to the rest of the field; his ability to bring novel ideas and original conceptual approaches to practice; and his far-ranging interests have resulted in a series of new technologies that have led to major advances in microbiological sciences.”
Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 July 2009 08:38
 
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