Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D.,  The Genome Institute

Dr. Wilson is an expert in molecular genetics and large-scale DNA sequence analysis, and his laboratory at the Washington University School of Medicine is among the world’s leaders in genome analysis. They have sequenced and analyzed billions of bases of DNA from the genomes of bacteria, yeast, roundworms, plants, vertebrates, primates and humans. Dr. Wilson and his colleagues at the Genome Institute sequenced the first animal genome – that of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans – and contributed substantially to the sequencing and analysis of the human genome. More recently, Dr. Wilson’s laboratory was the first to sequence the genome of a cancer patient and discover genetic signatures relevant to the pathogenesis of the disease. Building upon this achievement, their current focus is to utilize genome sequencing and analysis technology to discover clues that will facilitate more effective diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other human diseases.

Dr. Wilson is Professor of Genetics, Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Research Member at the Siteman Cancer Center, where he is also a member of the Senior Leadership Committee. Dr. Wilson received his A.B. degree from Miami University in Ohio (Microbiology, 1981), his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma (Chemistry and Biochemistry, 1986) and was a Research Fellow in the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology.

Publications