After leading the Human Genome Project and the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH for many years, Francis Collins is retiring.
No matter what you think of Francis Collins, he's been successful in getting the genome project done and he's done some amazing things during the 15 years that he's headed NHGRI.
My friend, Dr. Joan Messer, told me many times about the hours he spent talking with students at one of the AAAS meetings. I will always remember him from the NWABR fund-raising dinner where he pulled out his guitar and had the entire audience singing about DNA.
More like this
The world of genomics is changing. It was initially about sequencing the genome a single representative individual from a particular species.
...that is, if you still think that a genome sequence tells all secrets about someone's success in science etc. ;-)
What happens when I mention a paper describing two more Drosophila genomes?
Genome size can be measured in a variety of ways. Classically, the haploid content of a genome was measured in picograms and represented as the C-value.