Richard Myers is no fan of the tenure system. "You have to prove yourself individually from day one," he says. Myers also discovered early on that the quest for tenure could put undue pressure on one's career choices. During his first academic job, as an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, colleagues warned the young biochemist that working with others could damage his tenure bid. Nevertheless, Myers began working with his colleague David Cox. See CV
The partnership had the opposite career effect. Myers and Cox pioneered the use of genetic signposts called radiation hybrids to build a rough blueprint of the human genome. This helped geneticists correctly arrange sequence data. Developing the technique led both Cox and Myers to jobs at Stanford.
While developing these maps and also working at the Stanford Human Genome Center, Myers and Cox nurtured another collaboration with Jim Hudson, founder of Research Genetics in Huntsville, Alabama. Hudson made oligonucleotides, clones and cDNAs for Cox and Myers, and Research Genetics distributed these tools to Human Genome Project centres free of charge. The partnership saved time and money for the genome centres, by reducing their reliance on trial and error.
Hudson sold the company in 2000 to Invitrogen, Cox left for the pharmacogenomics company Perlegen, and Myers settled into his role running Stanford's genomics centre. But soon after, Hudson sought Myers' help in building a non-profit research institution.
Initially, Myers was reluctant. "I've got a pretty good set-up and am pretty happy," he says. But Hudson eventually convinced him. Myers will leave his post as director of the Stanford Human Genome Center next year to launch the Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, a non-profit facility based in Huntsville, Alabama. A big selling point was the planned focus on collaborations, both within the institute and with the 12 or so companies that will be housed in the same building. The institute's primary research role is applying whole-genome approaches to understanding and treating human diseases, an aim that necessitates interdisciplinary interactions.
"Fostering the spirit of collaboration is the whole point of how this thing is going to be run," says Hudson. If all goes as planned at the Hudson-Alpha institute, no one will have to go it alone — or worry about tenure.
CV
2002–present: Chair of genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, California
1993–present: Director, Stanford Human Genome Center, Stanford, California
1985–93: Associate professor, University of California, San Francisco
