Scientific Advisors

Michael Lovett, Ph.D.,Professor of Human Genetics
Washington University School of Medicine

Dr. Lovett is Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics, Joint Director, Division of Human Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Lovett was previously Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, Molecular Biology and Oncology, and a Member of the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center at Dallas. Prior to his move to UTSW, Dr. Lovett was a faculty member at UCSF and Senior Director of Molecular Genetics at Genelabs Incorporated. His research group has conducted pioneering work in gene identification methods and have participated in the positional cloning of several disease genes. Among these are the genes that cause ataxia-telangiectasia, Chediak-Higashi syndrome, diastrophic dysplasia and multiple exostoses. His current research interests include the genetics of non-syndromic hearing loss, new methodologies for gene discovery and analysis, and the molecular genetics of orthopaedic disorders. Dr. Lovett received his PhD. in Biochemistry from the University of London and his postdoctoral training in Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Elaine Mardis, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Genetics
Washington University School of Medicine

In addition to serving as Assistant Professor of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, Dr. Mardis is also the co-director of the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center where she leads the Technology Development group. Dr. Mardis is an expert in the development of DNA sequencing technology and is responsible for the many procedures and high-throughput automated systems currently in use at the Genome Sequencing Center. Dr. Mardis has served as a technical consultant for several commercial high-throughput sequencing laboratories, including Monsanto and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Mardis received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma.

Howard McLeod, Pharm. D., Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor
University of North Carolina

Dr. McLeod is the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Pharmacy in the Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics Division. Dr. McLeod is also the Principal Investigator for the CREATE Pharmacogenetics Research Network, a member of the NIH funded Pharmacogenetics Research Network and is a member of the FDA subcommittee on Clinical Pharmacology. Howard has published over 170 peer reviewed papers on pharmacogenomics, applied therapeutics, or clinical pharmacology and continues to work to integrate genetics principles into clinical practice to advance individualized medicine.

Eric Richards, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
Washington University

Dr. Richards is currently an Associate Professor of Biology at Washington University. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University in 1989. Dr. Richards' research program uses a combination of forward and reverse genetic approaches to study the function and regulation of cytosine methylation, principally using experimental models. In addition, the Richards lab studies the broader role of DNA modification and chromatin packaging in cementing alternative epigenetic states that influence inherited characters.

Mark Watson, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Laboratory Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine

Dr. Watson is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Laboratory Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He also currently serves as the Director of the Siteman Cancer Center Tissue Procurement Core Facility and as the Director of the Multiplexed Gene Analysis Core Facility at the Siteman Cancer Center in addition to serving as the Director of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Central Specimen Bank. Dr. Watson earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience and his M.D. from Washington University in 1992. His laboratory specializes in characterizing the genes associated with solid tumor development in humans with the goal of developing new diagnostic tests and treatment strategies for these tumors. The Watson lab has a special focus on understanding the role that a group of novel proteins they identified, including mammoglobin, play in the development of human breast cancer.

Robert A. Martienssen, Ph.D., FRS, Howard Hughes Professor
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Dr. Martienssen is a scientific co-founder of the company and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (HHMI-GBMF) Investigator and Professor of Plant Genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York where he leads the plant biology group. As well as developing strategies to exploit methylation in genome sequencing, Dr. Martienssen has also investigated the link between DNA methylation, histone methylation, and RNA interference in plants and yeast. His work, along with that of his colleagues, was awarded the "Breakthrough of the Year" by the journal, Science, in 2002. Dr. Martienssen was a co-recipient of the Kumho International Science Award in 2001 and was the 2003 recipient of the Newcomb Cleveland Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Martienssen received his B.A. in Natural Sciences (Genetics) from Cambridge University, England and his Ph.D. from the Plant Breeding Institute and Cambridge University. He completed postdoctoral studies at Berkeley, and has been on the faculty at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory since 1989. Dr. Martienssen was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006, and an associate member of EMBO in 2011. He was Fellow in Residence at Institut Pasteur in 2007, and holds an International Chaire Blaise Pascal in Paris from 2011-2013.