First Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium

Keynote Speaker -- Dr. Christopher Austin, MD

Christopher Austin is Director of the NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC), and Senior Advisor to the NHGRI Director for Translational Research, at the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health.

The NCGC, which Dr. Austin started in 2004, develops small molecule probes for gene, pathway, and cell functions using high-throughput screening and chemistry. The work of the Center is part of the NIH Roadmap Molecular Libraries initiative, a broad-based program in small molecule chemistry, assay development, screening, and informatics which Dr. Austin co-directs. The Molecular Libraries initiative is one of several programs Dr. Austin initiated upon his arrival at NHGRI in 2002 as Senior Advisor to the NHGRI Director for Translational Research, charged with the conceptualizatin and initiation of new research programs to derive biological and therapeutic insights from the recently completed Human Genome Project. In his role as Senior Advisor, Dr. Austin also initiated the Knockout Mouse Project, to produce knockout mice for all mouse genes, and the production of an in-depth transcriptome map of the mouse. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Austin was Director of Genomic Neuroscience at Merck, where he directed research programs in schizophrenia, genomics-based target discovery, pharmacogenomics, and DNA microarray technologies. Dr. Austin received his A.B. in Biology from Princeton University, and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He did residency training in internal medicine and neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a fellowship in Genetics at Harvard Medical School.