Interesting NYT article today on Leroy Hood:
Approaching Biology From a Different Angle
SCIENTIST AT WORK / Leroy Hood
By ANDREW POLLACK
SEATTLE — It was a major coup in 1991 when the University of
Washington, with a $12 million grant from Microsoft's chairman,
William H. Gates, lured Dr. Leroy Hood to create and head a
molecular biotechnology department.
Dr. Hood, after all, was, and still is, a biotechnology superstar.
In the 1980's, while at the California Institute of Technology, he
led the team that invented the DNA sequencer, the machine that made
the Human Genome Project possible.
At the news conference in February announcing the publication of
the genome papers, Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National
Human Genome Research Institute, singled out Dr. Hood, saying, "We
would not be here today if not for the innovation in technology."
Dr. Hood has also helped show how the immune system creates its
arsenal of antibodies. And he has helped start more than half a
dozen companies, including Amgen, the largest biotech company, and
Applied Biosystems, the leading maker of genetic analysis
equipment.
A little more than a year ago, Dr. Hood quit the university and
delivered a stinging message. The university, he said, and
universities in general, are unfit for the new age of biology.
<snip>
nytimes.com |
