Research Interests and Accomplishments

Dr. Bob Strausberg oversees the operations of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and leads the Institute’s research programs in human genomic medicine (HGM). Toward the goal of improving human health and our quality of life, the HGM team studies the inter-relationship of our genomes and our environment. In this interdisciplinary program JCVI’s scientists are advancing our understanding of the diversity and functions of the human genome, somatic changes in the genome that contribute to diseases such as cancer, the human microbiome (and that of our external environment), as well as the important role of the immune system in regulating our biology. As a platform for our studies, the JCVI team recently completed and published the first individual diploid human genome sequence.

Prior to joining the Venter Institute in September 2004, Dr. Strausberg served as vice president for research at The Institute for Genomic Research. Previously, he served as director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Genomics. At the NCI, Dr. Strausberg led programs that achieved international leadership as platforms for the biomedical research community. These included the NCI’s Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP) and the NIH Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC). At the NIH, Dr. Strausberg also served as Chief of the DNA Sequencing Technology Development Branch for National Center for Human Genome Research (now the NHGRI).

At the JCVI, Dr. Strausberg has continued his leadership role in building scientific platforms for the research community. He currently serves as Principal Investigator for the JCVI’s NIAID-supported Microbial Sequencing Center, and is co-investigator for the JCVI’s component of the NHLBI DNA Re-sequencing and Genotyping Program.

Dr. Strausberg serves on the editorial boards for several journals, is author/co-author of approximately 100 articles, and is an inventor on 11 U.S. patents. He received his bachelor’s degree in zoology and Ph.D. in developmental biology from Ohio State University and performed post-doctoral research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

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