I Found Francis Collins!

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted October 10, 2007 in DNA Podcasts and Videos, DNA in General, Personalities with DNA

Just when I was wondering where the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute was hiding, here are the latest sightings of Dr. Francis Collins in the news.

Dr. Collins was inducted into the Biotech Hall of Fame in the category of Scientific Achievement.

Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He led the successful effort to complete Human Genome Project (HGP), a complex multidisciplinary scientific enterprise directed at mapping and sequencing all the human DNA, and determining aspects of its function.

In Scientists win £4.2m for genome research, he is quoted as saying:

Based on ENCODE’s early success, we are moving forward with a full-scale initiative to build a parts list of biologically functional elements in the human genome.

The ENCODE pilot produced findings that are reshaping many long-held views about our genome. ENCODE’s effort to survey the entire genome will uncover even more exciting surprises, providing us with a more complete picture of the biological roots of human health and disease.

And he says this about behaviorists use dog genes to understand compulsive disorders:

The genetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder and other mental illnesses are likely to be very complex and very difficult to study in humans. With their selective breeding and well-characterized behaviors, purebred dogs may provide a powerful system for untangling the genetic roots of these disorders.

Now, whether this is really Francis Collins or a spokesperson speaking on his behalf, we don’t know. But, he will be appearing via video-conference on Friday, October 12, in a GenoCommunity-sponsored genomics forum at Orchard Place School in Des Moines, Iowa. Can anyone go and verify if Dr. Collins is alive and well? Not saying that they couldn’t use CGI to create a lookalike though.

What do you think? Real Francis Collins in this video or CGI?

Tags: francis collins, genetics, genes, dna, human genome, science

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