Meet Prof. George Church | Nebula Genomics

OUR FOUNDER

Professor George Church

George Church is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His pioneering work has contributed to the development of DNA sequencing and genome engineering technologies for which he received multiple awards including the 2011 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute and election to the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering. He co-authored over 550 publications, more than 150 patents, and a book titled “Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves”. He also initiated the Personal Genome Project and started over 20 companies.

Our Mission and Vision for the Future

Nebula Genomics’ mission is to usher in the era of personal genomics by providing access to affordable and secure Whole Genome Sequencing. This is made possible by the contributions of Prof. George Church to the development of multiple DNA sequencing methods. In particular, molecular multiplexing approaches that enabled next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) as well as long-read nanopore sequencing. Today, Nebula Genomics is turning these breakthrough technologies into products and making them available to people around the globe.

At Nebula Genomics we are driving large-scale human genome sequencing to advance our understanding of the causes of diseases and lay the foundation for personalized therapies of the future. These include targeted gene therapies that will make it possible to cure genetic diseases. In addition to developing DNA sequencing technologies, the laboratory of Prof. George Church has also made major contributions to the development of tools for gene editing. In particular, it co-invented CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene-editing tool that brought us much closer to creating gene therapies.

To go beyond the editing of a few genes, Prof. George Church recently launched the Human Genome Project-Write to develop technologies for large-scale engineering of human genomes. These advancements in synthetic biology can also be applied to revive extinct species. For example, the laboratory of Prof. George Church works on reviving the woolly mammoth by inserting mammoth DNA into elephant skin cells which can then be turned into stem cells and used to produce embryos. We envision technologies for reading and writing genomes working hand-in-hand to create the world of tomorrow.