David Botstein (born September 8, 1942) is an American biologist serving as the chief scientific officer of
Calico
Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...
. He served as the director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
from 2003 to 2013, where he remains an Anthony B. Evnin Professor of Genomics.
Education
Botstein graduated from the
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...
in 1959, and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1963. He started his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
work under
Maurice Sanford Fox
Maurice Sanford Fox (October 11, 1924 – January 26, 2020) was an American geneticist and molecular biologist, and professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he served as department chair between 1985 and 19 ...
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, then moved and received a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1967 for work on
P22 phage
''Salmonella virus P22'' is a bacteriophage in the ''Podoviridae'' family that infects ''Salmonella typhimurium''. Like many phages, it has been used in molecular biology to induce mutations in cultured bacteria and to introduce foreign genet ...
.
Career
Botstein taught at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, where he became a professor of genetics. Botstein joined
Genentech
Genentech, Inc., is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It became an independent subsidiary of Roche in 2009. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent center within R ...
, Inc. in 1987 as vice president – science. In 1990, he became chairman of the Department of Genetics at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. Botstein was elected to the
U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1981 and to the
Institute of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...
in 1993.
Botstein is the director of the Integrated Science Program at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. Many Integrated Science students have gone on to be successful in the field of
molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...
.
In 1980, Botstein and his colleagues Ray White, Mark Skolnick, and
Ronald W. Davis
Ronald Wayne "Ron" Davis (born July 17, 1941) is Professor of Biochemistry & Genetics, and Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center at Stanford University. Davis is a researcher in biotechnology and molecular genetics, particularly activ ...
proposed a method for constructing a
genetic linkage
Genetic linkage is the tendency of DNA sequences that are close together on a chromosome to be inherited together during the meiosis phase of sexual reproduction. Two genetic markers that are physically near to each other are unlikely to be separ ...
map using
restriction fragment length polymorphisms that was used in subsequent years to identify several human disease genes including
Huntington's and
BRCA1
Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''BRCA1'' () gene. Orthologs are common in other vertebrate species, whereas invertebrate genomes may encode a more distantly related gene. ''BRCA1'' is a h ...
. Variations of this method were used in the mapping efforts that predated and enabled the sequencing phase of the
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
.
In 1998, Botstein and his postdoctoral fellow
Michael Eisen
Michael Bruce Eisen (born April 13, 1967) is an American computational biologist and the editor-in-chief of the journal eLife. He is a professor of genetics, genomics and development at University of California, Berkeley. He is a leading advocate o ...
, together with graduate student Paul Spellman and colleague
Patrick Brown, developed a statistical method and graphical interface that is widely used to interpret genomic data including
microarray data. This approach was refined and applied for diverse applications, including for a molecular classification of heterogenous tumors using gene expression. These efforts included work on discovery of tumor subtypes with
Lou Staudt,
Ash Alizadeh
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
and
Ronald Levy, yielding a refined classification of
diffuse large B cell lymphomas, and in painting the molecular portraits for refined classification of
breast cancers with
Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale and Charles Perou. He has subsequently worked on the creation of the influential
Gene Ontology
The Gene Ontology (GO) is a major bioinformatics initiative to unify the representation of gene and gene product attributes across all species. More specifically, the project aims to: 1) maintain and develop its controlled vocabulary of gene and g ...
with
Michael Ashburner
Michael Ashburner (born 23 May 1942) is a biologist and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Genetics at University of Cambridge. He is also the former joint-head and co-founder of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) of the European Mo ...
and
Suzanna Lewis. He is one of the founding editors of the journal ''
Molecular Biology of the Cell
''Molecular Biology of the Cell'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society for Cell Biology. It covers research on the molecular basis of cell structure and function. According to the ''Journal Citation Rep ...
'', along with
Erkki Ruoslahti
Erkki Ruoslahti (born 16 February 1940 in Imatra, Finland) is a cancer researcher and distinguished professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. He moved from Finland to the United States in 1976.
Ruoslahti made seminal contrib ...
and
Keith Yamamoto.
In 2013, Botstein was named chief scientific officer of
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
's
anti-aging
The anti-aging movement is a social movement devoted to eliminating or reversing aging, or reducing the effects of it. A substantial portion of the attention of the movement is on the possibilities for life extension, but there is also interest in ...
health startup
Calico
Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...
.
Awards
Botstein has won the
Eli Lilly and Company Award in Microbiology (1978), the Genetics Society of America Medal (1988, with
Ira Herskowitz),
the
Allan Award of the
American Society of Human Genetics
The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), founded in 1948, is a professional membership organization for specialists in human genetics. As of 2009, the organization had approximately 8,000 members. The Society's members include researchers, a ...
(1989, with
Ray White
Ray White (full name Ray Shirley White Sr) is an American soul vocalist and rock and blues guitarist, best known as a member of Frank Zappa's touring ensembles. He was drafted into Zappa's band in late 1976, being featured on rhythm gu ...
), the
Gruber Prize in Genetics
The Gruber Prize in Genetics, established in 2001, is one of three international awards worth US$500,000 made by the Gruber Foundation, a non-profit organization based at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Genetics Prize honors leadi ...
(2003), the
Albany Medical Center Prize
The Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research is the United States' second highest value prize in medicine and biomedical research, awarded by the Albany Medical Center. Among prizes for medicine worldwide, the Albany Medical ...
(2010, with
Eric Lander
Eric Steven Lander (born February 3, 1957) is an American mathematician and geneticist who served as the 11th director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Science Advisor to the President, serving on the presidential Cabinet. Lan ...
and
Francis Collins
Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-geneticist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He is the former director of the National Institutes of Health ( ...
) and the
Dan David Prize
The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding ...
in 2012. In 2013 he was awarded the $3 million
Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences is a scientific award, funded by internet entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan of Facebook; Sergey Brin of Google; entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, one of the ...
for his work and in 2020 the
Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal
The Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal is awarded by the Genetics Society of America (GSA) for lifetime contributions to the field of genetics.
The medal is named after Thomas Hunt Morgan, the 1933 Nobel Prize winner, who received this award for his work wi ...
of the
Genetics Society of America. In 2016,
Semantic Scholar AI program included Botstein on its list of most top ten most influential biomedical researchers.
Personal
Botstein is an alumnus of
Camp Rising Sun. He is the brother of the
conductor Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein (born December 14, 1946 in Zürich, Switzerland) is a Swiss-American conducting, conductor, educator, and scholar serving as the President of Bard College.
Biography 1946–1975: Early life, education, and career
Botstein was ...
. Both of Botstein's parents were physicians.
References
External links
David Botstein's Talk: "An Integrated Science Curriculum"David Botstein iBiology Seminar: "Fruits of the Genome Sequence"David Botstein personal archives MC-0227. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Distinctive Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botstein, David
1942 births
The Bronx High School of Science alumni
Living people
Harvard University alumni
University of Michigan alumni
Camp Rising Sun alumni
American geneticists
Jewish American scientists
20th-century Swiss people
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Genentech people
Stanford University School of Medicine faculty
American biotechnologists
Biogerontologists
Princeton University faculty
Stanford University faculty
Academic journal editors
American print editors
Media founders
American microbiologists
Fellows of the AACR Academy
Scientists from New York (state)
American scientists
Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology
21st-century American Jews
Members of the National Academy of Medicine