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Kistler Prize
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2010 Recipient
Dr. Leroy Hood
 Foundation For the Future has selected genomics pioneer Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., as the 2010 winner of the Kistler Prize. Dr. Hood, Co-founder and President of the Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, is one of the world’s leading scientists in systems biology, biotechnology, immunology, and genomics.
Dr. Hood is being honored for creating the technological foundation for the sciences of genomics (study of genes) and proteomics (study of proteins) through the invention of five groundbreaking instruments and for explicating the potentialities of genome and proteome research into the future through his pioneering of the fields of systems biology and systems medicine. His instruments not only pioneered the deciphering of biological information, but also introduced the concept of high throughput data accumulation through automation and parallelization of the protein and DNA chemistries. Hood's discoveries have changed the course of biology and revolutionized the understanding of genetics.
The first two instruments transformed the field of proteomics. The protein sequencer allowed scientists to read and analyze proteins that had not previously been accessible, resulting in the characterization of a series of new proteins whose genes could then be cloned and analyzed. These discoveries led to significant ramifications for biology, medicine, and pharmacology. The second instrument, the protein synthesizer, synthesized proteins and peptides in sufficient quantities to begin characterizing their functions. The DNA synthesizer, the first of three instruments for genomic analyses, was used to synthesize DNA fragments for DNA mapping and gene cloning.
The most notable of Hood’s inventions, the automated DNA sequencer developed in 1986, made possible high-speed sequencing of human genomes and was the key technology enabling the Human Genome Project. Finally in the early 1990s Hood and his colleagues developed the ink-jet DNA synthesis technology for creating DNA arrays with tens of thousands of gene fragments, one of the first of the so-called DNA chips, which enabled measuring the levels of tens of thousands of expressed genes. This instrument has also transformed genomics, biology, and medicine. The first four instruments were commercialized by Applied Biosystems, Inc., a company founded by Dr. Hood in 1981, and the ink-jet technology was commercialized by Agilent Technologies, thus making these instruments immediately available to the world-community of scientists.
In 2000, Hood and two colleagues founded the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), a nonprofit research institute integrating biology, medicine, computation, and technology to take a systems approach to studying the complexity of biology and medicine by analyzing all elements in a biological system rather than studying them one gene or protein at a time. The Institute celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2010.
“Dr. Hood’s long-term passion for working at the frontiers of biology and medicine has greatly aided humankind’s understanding of how genetics impacts human society, and significantly improved health and life for individuals dealing with a variety of serious illnesses,” said Sesh Velamoor, Foundation For the Future Director of Programs. “Going forward, his inventions and achievements make possible a revolution to predictive and preventive medicine to replace the reactive approach common today.”
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