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Francis Collins resigns at NHGRI.
Maggie Bartlett / NHGRI
Francis Collins, the medical researcher perhaps best known for steering the Human Genome Project, is stepping down as director the National Human Genome Research American Institute (NHGRI) in Bethesda, Maryland. Collins said today that he will leave on August 1st to write a book and to explore other possibilities, which could include involvement in the presidential campaign or take a non-profit position.
Collins, 58, took the head of the National Institutes of NHGRI (NIH) of Health in 1993 as he was preparing to sequence the human genome, a controversial proposal of $ 3 billion. The heated quest when a private company, Celera, jumped, spurring fierce competition. Both public and private efforts published a draft in 01 and the full sequence was completed in 03. According to Collins, the institute has also advanced sequencing genomes of several model organisms, from yeast to the platypus, that stimulated the study of evolution at the molecular level. Collins defended the public sharing genome data and pushed legislation to protect people against discrimination based on their genes. A law codifying the protection was signed by President George W. Bush last week.
"It was a great era, when he was director," said Bruce Stillman, president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. One of the challenges of Collins, however, was to find new goals for the institute once the human genome was completed, Stillman says. He initiated projects as a major effort to develop knockout mice ( Science NOW, September 7, 06) and The Cancer Genome Atlas ( Science , 16 December 05, p. 1751), which, with the cancer institute, is sequencing of mutations in human cancers. Yet as sequencing becomes cheaper, the next director will redefine the scientific role of the institute, said Stillman.
Collins told reporters today that his time at the NIH was "wonderful," despite the recent NIH budget fall, who says he has "much more difficult." However, reasons for his departure has nothing to do with the management or NIH budget; he says he is simply the fact that "the time seems right" to explore employment opportunities with more freedom than if he was still in a federal position. Collins plans to work on a book on personalized medicine and said he would be interested in helping a presidential campaign if asked. another position of the Government is also possible, said Collins. for example, if he was approached to become the next director of the NIH, "I would be crazy to say no, "he said.
Alan Guttmacher, NHGRI now deputy director, will serve as acting director while the NIH Director Elias Zerhouni seeks a successor.
Related site
- Collins at NHGRI biography website
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