Francis Collins
Francis Collins
Francis Sellers Collinsis an American physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. He is director of the National Institutes of Healthin Bethesda, Maryland, USA...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth14 April 1950
CountryUnited States of America
Francis Collins quotes about
area disease expertise fortunate found genes genetics human team
My own area of expertise is the genetics of human disease. I was fortunate to be part of the team that found the genes for cystic fibrosis, and Huntington's disease and neurofibromatosis.
cancer cells genes led major normal treatment
More than 300 genes have been implicated in the diabolical transformation of normal cells into cancer cells, and that has led to major insights into cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure.
collect employer federal genetic health information injured material people provider question states united uses
The question is if we do collect a lot of genetic material from people ... are you going to see those people then injured when their health provider or employer uses that information to take away opportunities. At the moment, in the United States particularly, those protections are not in place at a federal level.
night next generations
What wakes me up at night is this next generation and what's happening to them. And they're invariably excited about the science that they're doing, but invariably anxious about where there's a future.
accelerate conditions consequences difficult discovery five genetic genome nail next power process producing project rather three tools
Conditions that we know have genetic contributions but which have been rather difficult to nail down, this set of power tools that the genome project is producing will accelerate this discovery process rather dramatically, and we're going to see the consequences of that in the next three to five years,
academic bunch engine exercise gene nerdy transform
This is not just an academic exercise by a bunch of nerdy gene hunters. This is the engine that will transform medicine.
academic bunch effort exercise gene nerdy transform
This is not just an academic exercise by a bunch of nerdy gene hunters. This is an effort that will transform medicine.
blood diabetes disease genetic heart high multiple pressure
You're going to see a proliferation of discoveries about the genetic contributions to diabetes and heart disease and high blood pressure and schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis and on down the list,
consider historians profound responsibility turning
What a profound responsibility it is to do this work. Historians will consider this a turning point.
bizarre quirky
For delightfully quirky descriptions of bizarre neurological syndromes that teach us a lot about how the brain works, there is no match for Oliver Sacks.
believe broad faith learned scares scientists serious
I actually do not believe that there are any collisions between what I believe as a Christian, and what I know and have learned about as a scientist. I think there's a broad perception that that's the case, and that's what scares many scientists away from a serious consideration of faith.
concerns expressed genome human information might overseeing public scientist understanding ways
As a Christian, but also as a scientist responsible for overseeing the Human Genome Project, one of my concerns has been the limits on applications of our understanding of the genome. Should there be limits? I think there should. I think the public has expressed their concern about ways this information might be misused.
billion brain certain heart human kidney learned letters organ pumps
The brain is the most complicated organ in the universe. We have learned a lot about other human organs. We know how the heart pumps and how the kidney does what it does. To a certain degree, we have read the letters of the human genome. But the brain has 100 billion neurons. Each one of those has about 10,000 connections.
body cancer causes cell disease grow mistakes somewhere start
Cancer is a disease of the genome. And that's what happens. You make mistakes in a cell somewhere in your body that causes it to start to grow when it should've stopped, and that's cancer. And those mistakes are mistakes of DNA.