Biography of francis collins
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2015 Association of American Physicians George M. Kober Medal
Francis Sellers Collins was born in Staunton, Virginia, on April 14, 1950, with his family pedigree shown in Figure 1A. His parents, Margaret and Fletcher, met as graduate students at Yale — his mother in English and his father in drama. They settled in Staunton, Virginia, in 1946, where Fletcher taught theater at Mary Baldwin College and Margaret wrote plays. They spent the rest of their very full lives in Staunton, both living to the age of 98 and married for 73 years. Fletcher and Margaret’s home was a center for music and theater culture in Staunton, including serving as the site for their Annual Twelfth Night Music party, which was attended by major folk music figures each year and in which Francis would also reliably participate. Francis is the youngest of four brothers (Figure 1B) and was home-schooled until he was 10. He then attended Robert E. Lee High School, graduating at the age of 16 (Figure 2) and moving
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Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Collins' laboratory seeks to identify and understand the function of genes involved in a range of human diseases, both rare and common, with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic opportunities.
One of the lab's significant projects focuses on Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a rare genetic disorder characterized by premature aging. HGPS patients typically die from cardiovascular complications in their teens. Dr. Collins' group discovered that a point mutation in the lamin A gene (LMNA) activates a cryptic splice donor, resulting in shortening of the normal version of the encoded protein by 50 amino acids near the C-terminus - this protein has been named "progerin". They also found that HGPS is associated with significant changes in the shape of the nucleus, these structural defects worsen as HGPS cells age in culture, and introducing progerin into normal cells induces the same changes. Cellular biological analysis implicate
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Francis Collins
American physician-scientist (born 1950)
For other people named Francis Collins, see Francis Collins (disambiguation).
Francis Collins | |
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Official portrait, 2017 | |
Acting | |
| In office February 18, 2022 – October 3, 2022 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Eric Lander |
| Succeeded by | Arati Prabhakar |
| In office August 17, 2009 – December 19, 2021 | |
| President | Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden |
| Deputy | Lawrence A. Tabak |
| Preceded by | Raynard S. Kington (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Lawrence A. Tabak (acting) |
| In office April 1993 – August 1, 2008 | |
| President | Bill Clinton George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Michael M. Gottesman (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Alan Edward Guttmacher (acting) |
| Born | Francis Sellers Collins (1950-04-14) April 14, 1950 (age 74) Staunton, Virginia, U.S. |
| Spouse | Diane Baker |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Virginia (BS) Yale University (MS, PhD) University of North |