Dean Hamer (; born May 29, 1951) is an American
geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processe ...
. He is known for his research on the role of genetics in sexual orientation and for a series of popular books and documentaries that have changed the understanding and perceptions of human sexuality and gender identity.
Education and career
Born in
Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...
, Hamer obtained his
BA at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
,
CT, and his PhD from
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
. He was an independent researcher at the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
for 35 years, where he was the Chief of Gene Structure and Regulation Section at the
U.S. National Cancer Institute; upon retirement in 2011 he was designated ''Scientist Emeritus''. Hamer has won numerous awards including the Maryland Distinguished Young Scientist Award, the Ariens Kappers Award for Neurobiology, ''New York Times'' book-of-the year author, and an Emmy Award.
Biotechnology research
Hamer invented the first method for introducing new genes into animal cells using
SV40
SV40 is an abbreviation for simian vacuolating virus 40 or simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has the potential to cause tumors in animals, but most often ...
vector
Vector most often refers to:
*Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction
*Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism
Vector may also refer to:
Mathematic ...
s while a graduate student at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
. This approach was used to produce a variety of biomedical products including human
growth hormone
Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in h ...
and a vaccine for
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the ''Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection.
Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. Fo ...
, resulting in 4 US
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
s.
At NIH, Hamerʻs lab initially focused on the
metallothionein
Metallothionein (MT) is a family of cysteine-rich, low molecular weight (MW ranging from 500 to 14000 Da) proteins. They are localized to the membrane of the Golgi apparatus. MTs have the capacity to bind both physiological (such as zinc, copp ...
gene system. They elucidated the mechanism of induction of yeast metallothionein by copper ions, one of the first eukaryotic gene regulatory systems to be understood at the molecular level and a useful method for regulating therapeutic protein production.
Human sexual orientation and behavior genetics
In the 1990s Hamer began studies on the
genetics of human behavior, which led to the first molecular evidence for genes that influence
human sexual orientation. His research group's first paper, published in ''Science'' in 1993, reported that the maternal but not paternal male relatives of gay men had increased rates of same-sex orientation, suggesting the possibility of sex-linked transmission in a portion of the population. 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 ...
analysis of DNA samples from these families showed that gay brothers had an increased probability of sharing polymorphic markers on the subtelomeric region of the long arm of the
X chromosome
The X chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes (allosomes) in many organisms, including mammals (the other is the Y chromosome), and is found in both males and females. It is a part of the XY sex-determination system and XO sex-d ...
,
Xq28
Xq28 is a chromosome band and genetic marker situated at the tip of the X chromosome which has been studied since at least 1980. The band contains three distinct regions, totaling about 8 Mbp of genetic information. The marker came to the public ...
, providing statistically significant evidence for linkage to the sexual orientation phenotype.
This finding was replicated in two other studies in the United States whereas a study in Canada found contrary results; meta-analysis of all data available at that time suggested that Xq28 has a significant but not exclusive effect.
Subsequently, a genomewide scan by Hamerʻs group revealed additional regions on
autosomes that were moderately linked to male sexual orientation.
Hamer's results were robustly replicated in 2012 in a large, comprehensive multi-center genetic linkage study of male sexual orientation conducted by several independent groups of researchers.
Analysis of 409 pairs of gay brothers with over 300,000
single-nucleotide polymorphism
In genetics, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP ; plural SNPs ) is a germline substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. Although certain definitions require the substitution to be present in a sufficiently lar ...
markers confirmed the
Xq28
Xq28 is a chromosome band and genetic marker situated at the tip of the X chromosome which has been studied since at least 1980. The band contains three distinct regions, totaling about 8 Mbp of genetic information. The marker came to the public ...
linkage by two-point and multipoint LOD score mapping. Significant linkage was also detected in the pericentromeric region of chromosome 8, overlapping with one of the regions detected in the Hamer labʻs previous genomewide study. The authors concluded that "our findings, taken in context with previous work, suggest that genetic variation in each of these regions contributes to development of the important psychological trait of male sexual orientation." In August 2019, a
genome-wide association study
In genomics, a genome-wide association study (GWA study, or GWAS), also known as whole genome association study (WGA study, or WGAS), is an observational study of a genome-wide set of Single-nucleotide polymorphism, genetic variants in different i ...
of 493,001 individuals concluded that hundreds or thousands of genetic variants underlie same-sex sexual behavior in both sexes, but in contrast to linkage studies they found no excess of signal on Xq28 or the rest of the X chromosome. This study was questioned on account of its reliance on a dichotomous ever/never measure that lumped together predominantly heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual individuals, including those who only experimented once with a same-sex partner, possibly resulting in misleading associations to personality traits. Hamer said that the findings of the 2019 study do not reveal any biological pathways for sexual orientation, but stated he hoped it would be the first of many to come.
Hamer’s findings provoked extensive public reaction, often based on misunderstanding of the science, which led to his interest in explaining the data to a wide audience through a book written in collaboration with a journalist. Social science surveys have shown that research on the origins of sexual orientation has a strong positive influence on people’s attitudes of acceptance and inclusion of LGBT people.
Hamer and colleagues also investigated the genetic roots of anxiety and found that a promoter region
polymorphism in the gene for the serotonin transporter, which is the target of antidepressant drugs such as
Prozac
Fluoxetine, sold under the brand names Prozac and Sarafem, among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorde ...
, is associated with mood and personality.
This finding has been extensively replicated and extended and its activity has been confirmed by direct brain imaging studies.
In 2004, Hamer used data from ongoing behavioral genetics studies in his lab to explore the possibility of genetic influences on spirituality. In ''The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes,'' he proposed that a quantitative measure of self-transcendence is partially heritable and may be correlated to a specific gene,
VMAT2
The solute carrier family 18 member 2 (SLC18A2) also known as vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''SLC18A2'' gene. SLC18A2 is an integral membrane protein that transports monoamines—partic ...
, involved in monamine metabolism. Hamer's speculations on the possible role of genetics in
religious experience
A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defens ...
were featured in a cover story in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine.
HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention
Hamer's lab developed several biotechnological strategies to treat and reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS. As a means to reduce the latent pools of virus responsible for viral persistence, they discovered novel chemical agent to induce integrated virus,
and molecularly-engineered immunotoxins to destroy the infected cells.
They also collaborated with Osel, Inc. on a novel "live microbial
microbicide
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...
" approach to HIV/AIDS prevention. By genetically engineering normal vaginal bacteria to produce a potent anti-HIV peptide, significant protection against viral infection was provided in a durable and obtainable fashion for up to one month. The methodology was shown to be applicable to both rectal
and vaginal use
and is in the initial stages of preclinical testing.
Films and media
Hamer turned to documentary filmmaking to address complex scientific and social issues often overlooked by the mainstream media. In 2005, he and partner
Joe Wilson formed Qwaves with the mission of producing "insightful and provocative films that emanate from the voices of those on the outside and compel us to question and to act." Their short films won multiple awards including winner of the PBS Independent Lens Shorts Festival and Seeds of Tolerance Award.
''
Out in the Silence'', the first feature film from Qwaves, documented the controversy that was ignited by Hamer and Wilson's wedding announcement in Wilson's conservative small hometown in Pennsylvania. The film was supported by the
Sundance Documentary Film Program and won an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for achievement in documentary. The Out in the Silence Youth Activism Award was initiated in 2011 to highlight the contributions of young people to achieving respect, inclusion and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
In 2011, Hamer and Wilson moved to
Hawaiʻi
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
to begin a series of films about
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
lives and voices and long tradition of acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Their feature documentary ''
Kumu Hina
''Kumu Hina'' is a 2014 American LGBTQ related documentary film co-produced and co-directed by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson. It is based on the story of Hina Wong-Kalu, and stars Wong-Kalu, Haemaccelo Kalu and Ho'Onani Kamai. The film premiered a ...
'', about
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
native Hawaiian teacher and cultural icon
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
Hinaleimoana Kwai Kong Wong-Kalu, (born May 15, 1972) also known as Kumu Hina, is a Native Hawaiian '' māhū'' – a traditional third gender person who occupies "a place in the middle" between male and female, as well as a modern transgender wo ...
, was supported by
ITVS
ITVS (Independent Television Service) is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly seri ...
, Pacific Islanders in Communications and the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
and won the
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary
The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary is an annual award that honors documentaries for excellence in the treatment of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) individuals, history, and themes. It is one of several categories of ...
and the
Independent Lens
''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Ho ...
Audience Award on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
.
In 2017, Hamer and Wilson, with Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu as producer, released ''
Leitis in Waiting
''Leitis In Waiting'' is a 2018 feature-length documentary about transgender rights in Tonga. It was produced and directed by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. The filmmakers previously explored trans rights in the Pacific in t ...
a''nd ''Lady Eva'', which documented the lives of transgender women in the conservative South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga. This was followed in 2019 by ''The Rogers'', about transgender men in Samoa. These films became part of a campaign to decriminalize same-sex relationships across the Pacific.
Hamer, Wilson and Wong-Kalu continued their collaboration in 2020 with the animated short film ''
Kapaemahu
Kapaemahu refers to four stones on Waikiki Beach that were placed there as tribute to four legendary mahu (third-gender individuals) who brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi centuries ago. It is also the name of the leader of the hea ...
,'' based on the hidden history of four stones on Waikiki Beach placed there as a tribute to four legendary
mahu who first brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii. It premiered and won the Special Jury Prize at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
and was shortlisted for an Oscar as Best Animated Short Film at the
93rd Academy Awards
The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...
.
Hamer is a frequent guest on TV documentaries and news shows including ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'', ''
Nightline
''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...
'' and ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
''. He is featured in the
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...
' special ''Heaven'' and
Bill Maher
William Maher (; born January 20, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is known for the HBO political talk show ''Real Time with Bill Maher'' (2003–present) and the similar la ...
documentary ''
Religulous
''Religulous'' () is a 2008 American documentary film written by and starring comedian Bill Maher and directed by Larry Charles. The title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words ''religious'' and ''ridiculous''. The documentary
exami ...
'', and has been profiled in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine.
Scholarly influence
According to
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...
, Hamer's works have been cited over 27,000 times and he has an
h-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...
of 72 as of August 2020.
Books
* ''
The Science of Desire: The Search for the Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior'' (Simon and Schuster, 1994)
* ''Living with Our Genes: Why They Matter More Than You Think'' with Peter Copeland (Anchor, 1999)
* ''The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into our Genes'' (Doubleday, 2004)
Films
* ''
Out in the Silence'' (Dir Joe Wilson, Dean Hamer, 2009)
WPSU website* ''
Kumu Hina
''Kumu Hina'' is a 2014 American LGBTQ related documentary film co-produced and co-directed by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson. It is based on the story of Hina Wong-Kalu, and stars Wong-Kalu, Haemaccelo Kalu and Ho'Onani Kamai. The film premiered a ...
"'' (Dir. Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, 2014)
PBS website* ''
Leitis in Waiting
''Leitis In Waiting'' is a 2018 feature-length documentary about transgender rights in Tonga. It was produced and directed by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. The filmmakers previously explored trans rights in the Pacific in t ...
'' (Dir Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Prod Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, 2018)
PBS website* ''
Kapaemahu
Kapaemahu refers to four stones on Waikiki Beach that were placed there as tribute to four legendary mahu (third-gender individuals) who brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi centuries ago. It is also the name of the leader of the hea ...
'' (Dir Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, 2020)
Kanak Pakipika website
See also
*
Biology and sexual orientation
The relationship between biology and sexual orientation is a subject of research. While scientists do not know the exact cause of sexual orientation, they theorize that it is caused by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental ...
*
Serotonin transporter
The serotonin transporter (SERT or 5-HTT) also known as the sodium-dependent serotonin transporter and solute carrier family 6 member 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC6A4 gene. SERT is a type of monoamine transporter protein tha ...
References
External links
Dean Hamer's websiteD.C. scientist breaks new lead on gay geneIs God In Our Genes?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamer, Dean
1951 births
Living people
American agnostics
American geneticists
Harvard Medical School alumni
Writers on LGBT topics
LGBT scientists from the United States
LGBT people from New Jersey
People from Montclair, New Jersey
American LGBT writers
21st-century LGBT people