University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) – Stanford University CERSI

Monday, November 5, 2018

About the Presentation

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub) is a 2-year old non-profit medical research organization. Dr. DeRisi gave an introduction to the CZ Biohub, its structure, personnel, and scientific activities. This included the CZ Biohub Investigator program, the CZ Biohub internal technology platforms, software engineering projects, and its two initiatives, the Cell Atlas and Infectious Disease. In addition, Dr. DeRisi described his own scientific program and joint initiatives with the CZ Biohub and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

About the Presenter

Joseph DeRisi, Ph.D. is Co-President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He employs an interdisciplinary approach combining genomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, bioengineering to study parasitic and viral infectious diseases in a wide range of organisms, for the purpose of discovering and studying novel or unrecognized biothreats. Early work in his lab contributed to the identifcaiton of SARS coronavirus in 2003. In a parallel effort, Dr. DeRisi studies P. falciparum, the causative agent of the most deadly form of human malaria, in order to develop faster, better therapeutic options. Dr. DeRisi was one of the early pioneers of DNA microarray technology and whole genome expression profiling and is nationally recognized for his efforts to make this technology accessible and freely available.

In 2004, he was chosen for a MacArthur Fellowship. In addition to being a Searle Scholar and a Packard Fellow, Dr. DeRisi has received the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment, and was named an Eli Lilly and Company Research Award Laureate. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science in 2015, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2017.

He received a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1992) from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1999) from Stanford University prior to joining the UCSF faculty as a Sandler Fellow in 1999. Dr. DeRisi was a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator from 2006-2016, which he left to take on the role of Co-President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a non-profit medical research organization affliliated with UCSF, UC Berkely, and Stanford University. Dr. DeRisi is continuing to pursue efforts toward data-driven diagnostics for infectious disease, and recently, autoimmune disorders as well.