2012 28 February Maynard Olson interview

Maynard Olson, interview by Kathryn Maxson, Rachel Ankeny (via Skype), and Robert Cook-Deegan, Durham, NC, 28 February 2012. Maynard Olson’s long career in genomics, at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Washington, included some of the first experiments using DNA polymorphisms as genetic markers, the construction of a physical map of the yeast genome, and the development of the yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) system, a breakthrough in genomic mapping in the 1980s. In addition to his career as a scientist, Olson has participated frequently in science policy, contributing to many advisory reports during the planning of the HGP and beyond. These include that of the 1988 National Research Council (NRC) committee, “Mapping and Sequencing the Human Genome,” an integral reference for the Congressional planning report that launched the U.S. HGP in 1990. In 1992, Olson turned over his directorship of the Washington University genome center to Eric Green, who later transferred the directorship to Robert Waterston. (Waterston founded the full-fledged sequencing center, the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center, in 1993.) Olson then became director of the genome center at the University of Washington. He was a vocal critic of the Bermuda Principles and declined his invitation to all three Bermuda meetings. His perspectives provide insightful critiques and analyses of the Principles and the HGP. This transcript is available beginning 1 July 2014. Keywords: Human Genome Project, HGP, interview, Bermuda Principles, Bermuda Accord, International Strategy Meetings on Human Genome Sequencing, data sharing, science policy, genomics, genome, genome sequence, genetics, DNA sequence, DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, NIH, National Institutes of Health, DOE, Department of Energy, DNA polymorphisms, physical mapping, yeast genome, yeast artificial chromosomes, YACs, science policy, National Research Council, NRC, Mapping and Sequencing the Human Genome, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Washington, Maynard Olson.This research was supported by the NHGRI-funded Duke Center for Public Genomics, P50 HG 003391, with supplementary funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation