Christopher P. Austin, M.D. Director of the NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) Associate Investigator, Division of Intramural Research National Human Genome Research Institute National Institutes of Health   Senior Advisor to the Director for Translational Research National Human Genome Research Institute National Institutes of Health Keynote Topic: “Translating genomics into potential new therapies: opportunities and challenges.”

Christopher Austin is Director of the NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Senior Advisor to the Director for Translational Research at the National Human Genome Research Institute.  Before joining NIH in 2002, Dr. Austin built a group at Merck that used genetic and genomic approaches to identify and validate novel targets for neuropsychiatric diseases. Their particular focus was on schizophrenia, but they also worked on bipolar illness and Alzheimer's disease. By developing innovative microarray and molecular histology gene expression capacities to functionally characterize novel genes, Dr. Austin’s schizophrenia project team developed small molecule modulators of two molecular targets for schizophrenia that are now being tested for treatment of the disease. Dr. Austin received his A.B. in biology summa cum laude from Princeton, and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed clinical training in internal medicine and neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental genetics at Harvard. He was recruited to NIH in 2002 by Francis Collins to lead efforts to translate the Human Genome Project, then nearing completion, into scientific discoveries and therapeutic benefits.

Program

Dr. Austin directs the NIH Chemical Genomics Center, whose mission is to develop research probes of proteins, pathways, and cell functions important to normal physiology and disease states. The Center collaborates with over 100 research labs worldwide to develop and optimize assays suitable for high-throughput screening (HTS), perform rapid roboticscreening of large compound libraries, chemically optimize probes and leads, and disseminate data and technology platforms to the research community. The NCGC also develops new models to increase the application and efficiency of assay, screening, chemistry, and informatics technologies across the genome, and is a founding partner with the National Toxicology Program and the Environmental Protection Agency in the Tox21 Program, which aims to transform toxicology testing into a mechanistic science. 

As Senior Advisor for Translational Research, Dr. Austin led several large initiatives focused on translating the human genome sequence into biological function and therapeutics. Representative programs include the NIH Molecular Libraries Initiative, a multifaceted program of small molecule technologies in the public sector, and the Knockout Mouse Project, which is producing knockout mice for all mouse genes. Most recently, he has developed and launched the new NIH Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program.

Impact

These translational initiatives will not only provide tools to understand individual gene functions and leads for development of new drugs, but will also establish new paradigms to study gene interactions across the genome. They hold the promise of better understanding the relationship of the genome to biological complexity, thus, accelerating the development of effective therapies for human disease.