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Oral History Collection

George Church

George Church, Ph.D. had unconventional beginnings, publishing five papers on x-ray crystallography of tRNA – or transfer RNA, a small type of RNA molecule that helps decode the DNA sequence into a protein – while flunking out of graduate school at Duke University. Changing schools, he successfully finished his doctoral work at Harvard University and is now regarded as one of the leading innovators of the Human Genome Project. He currently works on the cutting edge of contemporary genetic investigation as professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Church’s oral history is essentially a history of DNA sequencing technology with vital insights into what the future may hold.