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
book genome hard human importance overstate project reading
it's hard to overstate the importance of reading our own instruction book and that's what the human genome project is all 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.
created embryos human recognize safely
If you are in support of in vitro fertilization, then you have to recognize that human embryos are being created in excess of what can be used safely to reimplant for a pregnancy. So they're going to end up being discarded.
bit degree far finished graduate human life quantum rest
I finished up my graduate degree in quantum mechanics, but underwent a bit of a personal crisis, recognizing that I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. It was too abstract, too far removed from human concerns.
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.
achievement destined discovery exciting genome historic human lead
Sequencing the chimp genome is a historic achievement that is destined to lead to many more exciting discoveries with implications for human health,
age earth including population proportion rejects relationships scientific strong
It is interesting that the U.S. has this very strong proportion of the population that rejects scientific conclusions about the age of the Earth and about evolutionary relationships between species, including humans.
lab notebook peek
We can peek into evolution's lab notebook and see what went on there.
effective kinds misuse
We need effective legislation to make those kinds of misuse illegal,
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,
consider historians profound responsibility turning
What a profound responsibility it is to do this work. Historians will consider this a turning point.
compared genome learn main opportunity pair precise programs public talking textbook today
This is a pair of programs where the public is the main winner. The genome has been compared to a textbook, and what we're talking about today is an opportunity to learn how to read that textbook in a more precise way.
finding house key rather stunning works
This is a stunning surprise, rather like finding out that the key to your house also works in the ignition of your car.