Wofford Cain Professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics; Program in Cell & Molecular Biology
Director, Human Genome Sequencing Center

B.Sc., University of Melbourne, 1979
Ph.D., University of Melbourne, 1985
Postdoc, Baylor College of Medicine, 1990

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Richard Gibbs received a B.Sc.(Hons) in 1979 and a Ph.D. in Genetics and Radiation Biology in 1985 at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. He subsequently moved to Houston as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Baylor College of Medicine to study the molecular basis of human X-linked diseases and to develop technologies for rapid genetic analysis. During this period, he also developed several fundamental technologies for nucleic acid analysis. In 1991, he joined the faculty at BCM and played a key role in the early planning and development phases of the International Human Genome Project. In 1996, he established the Human Genome Sequencing Center (HGSC) when Baylor was chosen as one of six worldwide sites to complete the final phase of the project. He currently holds the rank of Director and Professor.

The Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center occupies more than 36,000 square feet, employs over 200 staff, including eighteen faculty, and is one of three National Institutes of Health funded genome centers that were involved in the completion of the first Human Genome Sequence in 2004. The HGSC contributed approximately 10 percent of the total project by sequencing Chromosomes 3, 12 and X. The BCM-HGSC collaborated with researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Celera Genomics to sequence the first species of fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The BCM-HGSC also completed the second species of fruit fly (Drosophila pseudoobscura), the honeybee (Apis mellifera), and led an international consortium to sequence the Brown Norway rat.

The Human Genome Sequencing Center is currently working to sequence and annotate the genome of the cow (Bos taurus) using a whole genome shotgun approach. The BCM-HGSC is also sequencing the genomes of other important organisms, including: the sea urchin, Rhesus macaque, Tammar wallaby, Dictyostelium discoideum, and a number of bacteria that cause serious infections (Rickettsia typhi, Enterococcus faecium, Mannheimia Haemolytica, and Fusobacterium nucleatum). The BCM-HGSC is also actively engaged in a program to sequence all human cDNAs.

Other research within the HGSC includes new molecular technologies for mapping and sequencing, exploration of novel chemistries for DNA tagging, development of instrumentation for DNA manipulation, building new computer programs for genomic data analysis, and studying the genes expressed in childhood leukemias, the genomic differences that lead to evolutionary changes, the role of host genetic variation in the course of infectious disease, and the molecular basis of specific genetic diseases. The HGSC has an active bioinformatics program, with reseach projects involving biologists and computer scientists. Problems under study focus on developing tools for generating, manipulating, and analyzing genome data.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Rat Genome Sequencing Project Consortium (2004). Genome sequence of the Brown Norway Rat yields insights into mammalian evolution. Nature 428: 493-521.

2. Wu JW, Garcia AM, Hulyk S, Sneed A, Kowis C, Yuan Y, Steffen D, McPherson JD, Gunaratne PH, Gibbs RA (2004). Large-scale RT-PCR recovery of full-length cDNA clones. Biotechniques 36: 690-696, 698-700.

3. Havlak P, Chen R, Durbin KJ, Egan A, Ren Y, Song XZ, Weinstock GM, Gibbs RA (2004). The Atlas genome assembly system. Genome Res. 14: 721-732.

4. Wu JQ, Shteynbert D, Arumugam M, Gibbs RA, Brent MR (2004). Identification of rat genes by TWINSCAN gene prediction, RT-PCR and direct sequencing. Genome Res. 14: 665-671.

5. Hattori E, Liu C, Badner JA, Bonner TI, Christian SL, Maheshwari M, Detera-Wadleigh SD, Gibbs RA, Gershon ES (2003). Polymorphisms at the G72/G30 gene locus, on 13q33, are associated with bipolar disorder in two independent pedigree series. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 72: 1131-1140.

6. Zhang Z, Burch PE, Cooney AJ, Lanz RB, Pereira FA, Wu J, Gibbs RA, Weinstock GM, Wheeler DA (2004). Genomic analysis of the nuclear receptor family: New insights into structure, regulation, and evolution from the rat genome. Genome Res. 14: 580-590.

7. The International HapMap Consortium (2003). The International HapMap Project. Nature 426: 789-796.

8. International Human Genome Mapping Consortium (2001). A physical map of the human genome. Nature 409: 934-941.

For more publications, see listing on Pub Med.

AWARDS AND HONORS:

2001: LSU Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship
2000: Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Excellence in Research Award
1988-1989: George R. Sampson Distinguished Research Fellowship, Muscular Dystrophy Association
1987: American Arthritis Foundation, Postdoctoral Fellowship
1986: Muscular Dystrophy Association of America, Postdoctoral Fellowship

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Richard A. Gibbs, Ph.D.
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, MSC 226
Houston, Texas 77030, U.S.A.
Mail Stop: BCM226

Phone: 713-798-6539
Fax: 713-798-5741
E-mail: /
Web site: Human Genome Sequencing Center ( http://www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu/public/)

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