George M. Church, Ph.D.

Professor of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School
Director, Harvard Medical School National Human Genome Research Institute’s Center of Excellence in Genomic Science
Director, Personal Genome Project, MIT’s Broad Institute and Harvard’s Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering

Harvard Professor Dr. Church, is a founding member of the Wyss Institute and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the world’s only open-access information on human genomic, environmental, and trait data.

A pioneer in personal genomics and synthetic biology, he developed the first methods for genome sequencing and dramatic cost reductions (from $3 billion to $600), contributing to nearly all “next-generation sequencing” methods and companies.

His team invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other synthetic biology technologies and applications, including new ways to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme Disease and Malaria.

Dr. Church is the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative, and the Center for Excellence in Genomic Science. He has co-authored more than 515 papers, 130 patent publications, and one book, Regenesis.