Rudolf Jaenisch And Bob Waterston Appointed Heads Of Faculty For Genomics & Genetics At Faculty Of 1000

Online, May 12, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Rudolf Jaenisch is a Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute and a Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge USA. He is credited with creating the first transgenic animal model, and his work currently focuses on understanding epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Professor Jaenisch is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, and he is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Bob Waterston is currently the William Gates III Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Chair of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. Professor Waterston's work was instrumental in completing the first sequence of a multicellular organism -- the C. elegans genome -- in 1998, as well as playing a central role in the sequencing of the human, mouse and chimpanzee genomes. He has received many awards, including the Gairdner Award, the General Motors prize, the Dan David Prize and the George W Beadle medal of the Genetics Society of America. His current work focuses on decoding the C. elegans genome.

Commenting on the appointment of the new Heads of Faculty, Janelia Farm Director and Founding Head of Faculty Gerry Rubin said: "Having Bob Waterston and Rudolf Jaenisch as co-Heads of the Faculty of Genomics & Genetics gives me great confidence in its continued success."

The F1000 Faculty consists of international experts who are highly respected in their chosen fields. Leading scientists and clinical researchers are invited to become Heads of Faculty based on the recommendation of large numbers of their peers.

To find out more about Faculty of 1000, please contact Eleanor Howell on +44 (0)20 7631 9129 or email [email protected]. For more information, visit http://f1000.com.