Richard K. Wilson (born March 23, 1959) is a leading American molecular geneticist. He is the founding Executive Director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at the

Ohio State University College of Medicine The Ohio State University College of Medicine (formerly known as The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health) is the medical school at The Ohio State University and is located in Columbus, Ohio. The college is nationally re ...

. He received his A.B. degree (Microbiology) from Miami University in Ohio in 1981, his Ph.D. (Chemistry) from the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

in 1986, and was a Research Fellow in the Division of Biology at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

(1986-1990). In 1990, Dr. Wilson joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine where he co-founded the Genome Sequencing Center/

McDonnell Genome Institute McDonnell Genome Institute (The Elizabeth H. and James S. McDonnell III Genome Institute) at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of three NIH funded large-scale sequencing centers in the United States. Affiliated with Washington ...

. At Washington University, Dr. Wilson was the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Professor of Genetics, Professor of Molecular Microbiology, and a member of the Senior Leadership Committee of the Siteman Cancer Center. Dr. Wilson’s laboratories have been among the world’s leaders in genome analysis. His teams have sequenced and analyzed billions of bases of DNA from the genomes of bacteria, yeast, plants, invertebrates, vertebrates,

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

s and

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

s. Dr. Wilson and his colleagues at Washington University sequenced the first animal genome – that of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans – and contributed substantially to the sequencing and analysis of the human genome. Following the Human Genome Project, they also sequenced the genomes of the mouse, chimpanzee,

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

, rhesus macaque, platypus, the plants Arabidopsis thaliana and Zea mays (corn), as well as various invertebrates, insect vectors and microorganisms. His team was the first to sequence the genome of a cancer patient and discover genetic signatures relevant to the pathogenesis of the disease. Building upon these achievements, Dr. Wilson and his colleagues helped initiate and participated in several landmark genomics projects including

The Cancer Genome Atlas ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, th
Pediatric Cancer Genome Project
the

Genome Reference Consortium The Genome Reference Consortium (GRC) is an international collective of academic and research institutes with expertise in genome mapping, sequencing, and informatics, formed to improve the representation of reference genomes. At the time the Hum ...

, the

Human Microbiome Project The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) was a United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) research initiative to improve understanding of the microbiota involved in human health and disease. Launched in 2007, the first phase (HMP1) focused on ...

, and th
Centers for Common Disease Genomics
He is the most cited author of

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

. In 2008, Dr. Wilson was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2008). In 2011, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences.Distinguished Alumni Award
University of Oklahoma. 2011. In 2016, Dr. Wilson and several colleagues moved to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and launched the Institute for Genomic Medicine. Their mission is to utilize cutting-edge genome sequencing and analysis technology to discover clues that will lead to more effective diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other human diseases in children and adults.

References

External links

PubMed Citations

The Cancer Genome Atlas Large-Scale Sequencing Research Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Richard K Living people 1959 births Human Genome Project scientists Washington University in St. Louis faculty University of Oklahoma alumni