Drilling Down Into DNA and Disease
Catching Up With Former NIH Director Francis Collins
It has been 20 years since researchers around the world successfully mapped most of the roughly 20,000 genes that make up the human genome. Former NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. led the Human Genome Project through most of its 13-year progression and continues to push the limits of genetics today. As we celebrate National DNA Day on April 25, the 71st anniversary of the publication of DNA’s double-helix structure, we took some time to catch up with Dr. Collins and learn what he’s been up to since he stepped down as NIH Director in December 2021.
The dozen or so researchers in Dr. Collins’s lab focus on the role of genes in a variety of diseases, ranging from conditions caused by rare mutations in single genes to common ailments influenced by the interplay of hundreds of genes, lifestyle behaviors, and environmental factors. His two main research interests are type 2 diabetes and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare disorder that causes exceptionally rapid aging in children.