Francis Collins, the former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and a leader in the effort to map human DNA, will take part in a discussion at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy Jan. 21.
Collins will join Neal Lane, the Malcolm Gillis University Professor at Rice University and Baker Institute senior fellow in science and technology, for “Mapping the Human Genome: A Dialogue on Science and Public Life.” The discussion will be moderated by Michael Lindsay, assistant professor of sociology and associate director of Rice’s Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life.
The event will begin at 5 p.m. in Baker Hall’s Doré Commons on the Rice University campus, 6100 Main St. For directions, go to http://www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.
After the discussion with Lane, Collins will deliver an address to the Rice community and discuss his book. This lecture will be held in the Shell Auditorium in McNair Hall and begin at 7:30 p.m.
Collins led the successful effort to complete the Human Genome Project, a complex, multidisciplinary scientific enterprise directed at mapping and sequencing all human DNA and determining aspects of its function. A working draft of the human genome sequence was announced in June 2000, an initial analysis was published in February 2001 and a high quality reference sequence was completed in April 2003.
He is also the author of “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,” in which he argues that faith in God and faith in science can coexist harmoniously.
He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. In 2007, Collins received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil award, for his revolutionary contributions to genetic research.
Lane served in the federal government as assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from August 1998 to January 2001. He served as director of the National Science Foundation and member (ex officio) of the National Science Board from October 1993 to August 1998.
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