In this episode, I converse with the legendary geneticist, an outstanding scientist, terrific engineer, inimitable mentor, and fantastic innovator Prof. George Church of Harvard and MIT. Church is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has received multiple awards including the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute and election to the coveted National Academy of Sciences and Engineering for his pioneering contributions to science. He has co-authored over 600 publications, holds more than 150 patents, and published a book titled “Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves”, with more than 70 billion copies published.
Church's lab researches at the frontiers of science and helped develop the methods for the first genome sequencing, and their subsequent work brought down the price of sequencing over 10-million-fold. His was one of the two groups that first got CRISPR-Cas9, subject of the latest Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to work for precise gene editing in human cells by a homologous recombination, and he has been behind countless other scientific innovations and disruptions, specifically in the world of precision genome sequencing. We indulge in an extremely riveting conversation on his absolutely stellar and thoroughly inspiring journey through science; early childhood inspirations and building his first computer in conjunction with an electrician family friend; foraying into biological sciences armed with strong physical and computational science skills right at the cusp of revolution; fascinating grad school experience, from flunking out of Duke to make giant strides at Harvard; inspirational mentors like Gail Martin, Wally Gilbert, and Sung-Hou Kim; disappointment with the Human Genome Project; breathtaking research that has hugely impacted the world; combating failures and rejections; the prospect of creating an actual living and breathing Jurassic Park; and many more things!!
