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Paul Blainey

The ӳý of MIT and Harvard proudly welcomes scientist Paul Blainey, who will join the institute as a core faculty member in early 2012. He brings expertise in analytic systems at both the single-molecule and single-cell levels.

“Paul is a real visionary in how to study biology at the single-cell and single-molecule levels,” said ӳý Director Eric Lander. “I'm thrilled that he has chosen to join the ӳý, and extend a warm welcome to him on behalf of our entire community.”

If you stand in the lobby of the ӳý, it’s hard not to notice the movement of mammals above your head. A 17-foot wide mobile that hangs from the lobby’s ceiling includes the silhouettes of a chimpanzee, two-toed sloth, alpaca, little brown bat, elephant, dolphin, and more. Each of the depicted mammals gently swaying from the mobile’s branches has had its genome sequenced at the ӳý, the Genome Institute at Washington University, or the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center.

By now most of us have grown accustomed to – if not entirely comfortable with – the knowledge that we share our bodies with countless microbes. Good and bad, our skin, our mouths, and our guts teem with them. Scientists are now training next-generation sequencing technologies on these bugs, turning up surprises that may shed light on human disease, including cancer.