At a White House ceremony on May 19, Jonathan Rothberg, Ph.D. '91, was one of 8 recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation—the nation’s highest honors for achievement and leadership in advancing the fields of science and technology. Nine scientists also recieved the National Medal of Science.
Rothberg, professor (adjunct) of genetics, is best known for inventing high-speed, “Next-Gen” DNA sequencing. He founded 454 Life Sciences, bringing to market the first new method for sequencing genomes since Sanger and Gilbert won the Nobel Prize in 1980. Rothberg sequenced the first individual human genome, and initiated the Neanderthal Genome Project with Svante Paabo. Under his leadership, 454 helped understand the mystery behind the disappearance of the honey bee, uncovered a new virus killing transplant patients, and elucidated the extent of human variation. His contributions; cloning by limited dilution, and massively parallel DNA sequencing, are the basis of all subsequent high-speed sequencing methods.