Lucinda Fulton, MS

Lucinda Fulton attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), where she received an MS degree and shortly thereafter joined Washington University as part of a team working to sequence the C. elegans genome. During her time at the university, she has watched the sequencing project grow from a team of 7 individuals to well over 300 employees.

Early in her career, she worked as a technician in the production team, and later as a finisher. These experiences provided a solid foundation and real world understanding of production sequencing challenges. In 1996, she became the leader of the library construction group and continued to serve as a resource for the production teams. In 1999, she was named the Assistant Group Leader for Production and in 2002 became Group Leader. Under her direction and with the help of her colleagues, the production pipeline now produces several thousand gigabases of sequence per month. Sequencing efforts at the McDonnell Genome Institute now include whole genome shotgun production and targeted re-sequencing of human and other organism-based samples. With the advent of larger numbers of human DNA samples in the pipeline, Ms. Fulton has worked with her colleagues to design a robust incoming sample review and documentation process that ensures only qualified samples are selected for sequencing. She enjoys working closely with other members of the senior staff as well as her team of dedicated production mangers to find unique and innovative solutions to the challenges she encounters.