J. Craig Venter Institute Names Robert Friedman, Ph.D., Deputy Director of West Coas...( Other Key Senior Scientist Promot...)

Other Key Senior Scientist Promotions Announced

ROCKVILLE, Md. and LA JOLLA, Calif., June 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomic research organization, today announced that Robert Friedman, Ph.D., has been named the new Deputy Director of the JCVI La Jolla, California facility. The organization also announced the promotion of several key science leaders -- Karen Nelson, Ph.D., Samuel Levy, Ph.D., and Yu-Hui Rogers, in the Rockville, Maryland headquarters.

In his new role, Dr. Friedman will oversee day to day operations of JCVI La Jolla which currently has approximately 40 staff and scientists in 20,000 square feet of lab and office space who are engaged in synthetic, environmental and human genomic research. Plans are underway to build a new, carbon-neutral laboratory facility on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. If funding can be secured to build this state-of-the art facility, it will be the first laboratory building of its kind in the U.S. and will house approximately 125 staff and scientists.

Friedman was Vice President for Public Policy and has been with JCVI since 2003. In this role, he was instrumental in forming the Institute's Policy Center which has focused primarily on the policy implications of the JCVI's work in synthetic genomics. In 2007 he and his team, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) with funding from the Sloan Foundation, published the results of a 20 month study focused on the options for governance of the field of synthetic genomics. He has also been a key contributor on several research projects related to the Institute's environmental genomics work.

Prior to joining JCVI, Friedman was Vice President for Research at The Heinz Center, a nonprofit environmental policy research organization. Earlier he was a Senior Associate at the Office of Techno
'/>"/>