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Hood: Trailblazer of the Genomics Age
Lee Hood did that rarest of things. He enabled scientists to see things they couldn’t see before and do things they hadn’t dreamed of doing. Scientists can now sequence complete human genomes in a day, setting in motion a revolution that is personalizing medicine.
Hood, a son of the American West, was an unlikely candidate to transform biology. But with ferocious drive, he led a team at Caltech that developed the automated DNA sequencer, the tool that paved the way for the Human Genome Project. He captivated scientists with his almost religious fervor for the new biology enabled by the machines.
Hood’s brilliance, rebellion, enthusiasm, and ego earned him as many admirers as enemies. His management style, once described as “creative anarchy,” alienated many. Collaborators seethed, claiming he took too much credit. Fellow Caltech biologists charged that his empire building was out of control and ousted him as their chairman. A fraud in his lab made him consider, for a moment, quitting science.
Wooed by money from Bill Gates, Hood started over at the University of Washington. His impatience for rules burned bridges once again. Hood left at age sixty-one to start his own institute. Would he finally achieve the ultimate application of the genome project—personalized medicine?
In “Hood: Trailblazer of the Genomics Age,” journalist Luke Timmerman zeroes in on a charismatic, controversial personality. Never-before-reported details are drawn from the scientist’s confidential files, public records, and more than 150 interviews with Hood and his family, friends, collaborators, and detractors. The result is not just a revealing portrait of one of the most influential biologists of our time, but a deeply human look at science itself.
Hood, a son of the American West, was an unlikely candidate to transform biology. But with ferocious drive, he led a team at Caltech that developed the automated DNA sequencer, the tool that paved the way for the Human Genome Project. He captivated scientists with his almost religious fervor for the new biology enabled by the machines.
Hood’s brilliance, rebellion, enthusiasm, and ego earned him as many admirers as enemies. His management style, once described as “creative anarchy,” alienated many. Collaborators seethed, claiming he took too much credit. Fellow Caltech biologists charged that his empire building was out of control and ousted him as their chairman. A fraud in his lab made him consider, for a moment, quitting science.
Wooed by money from Bill Gates, Hood started over at the University of Washington. His impatience for rules burned bridges once again. Hood left at age sixty-one to start his own institute. Would he finally achieve the ultimate application of the genome project—personalized medicine?
In “Hood: Trailblazer of the Genomics Age,” journalist Luke Timmerman zeroes in on a charismatic, controversial personality. Never-before-reported details are drawn from the scientist’s confidential files, public records, and more than 150 interviews with Hood and his family, friends, collaborators, and detractors. The result is not just a revealing portrait of one of the most influential biologists of our time, but a deeply human look at science itself.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 6, 2016
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About the author
Luke Timmerman
1 book16 followersLuke Timmerman is the author of "Hood: Trailblazer of the Genomics Age." He is an award-winning journalist who has covered biotechnology for more than a decade. He is the founder and editor of Timmerman Report, a biotech newsletter. Timmerman is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT in 2005-2006. He was named by Scientific American as one of the 100 most influential people in biotech in 2015. He lives in Seattle with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 27, 2017
This is an unauthorized biography of Leroy Edward Hood. The book opens with Hood resigning from the University of Washington in 1999. Bill Gates had lured Hood to the University in 1991 from Caltech. Hood went on to create the Institute for Systems Biology. The book then goes back to Hood’s early life and follows it forward including his education in the field of immunology. The author states Hood developed the DNA sequencing machine which revolutionized the Genomic field. Hood made tenure at Caltech at age 35 and became department head at age 41. While at Caltech Hood envisioned four machines that would create great benefit for biology and his staff went on to create these machines. Caltech has received 100s of millions of dollars from patent royalties on these machines. Timmerman points out that Hood was a leader in cross-disciplinary research. The author discusses the problem of fraud that occurred by a grad student in Hood’s laboratory as well as personality traits of Hood’s that caused problems with staff and colleagues. Timmerman won many scientific awards over the years.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. Timmerman is a biotech journalist so the book is fairly easy to read for the layman. The author points out the strengths and weaknesses of Hood’s and maintains his journalistic objectivity. Timmerman states that Hood had broad but shallow knowledge. Timmerman states Hood was the thinker or idea man and hired graduate students to do the daily chore of experimental work. The author states Hood was dedicated to innovation. The book is balanced between the man and his science.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is about eleven hours long. Xe Sands does a good job narrating the book. Sands is a voice-over artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. Timmerman is a biotech journalist so the book is fairly easy to read for the layman. The author points out the strengths and weaknesses of Hood’s and maintains his journalistic objectivity. Timmerman states that Hood had broad but shallow knowledge. Timmerman states Hood was the thinker or idea man and hired graduate students to do the daily chore of experimental work. The author states Hood was dedicated to innovation. The book is balanced between the man and his science.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is about eleven hours long. Xe Sands does a good job narrating the book. Sands is a voice-over artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.
February 23, 2023
This seems like a fair, well-written and in-depth biography of Hood, who does not come out of it looking great, in my eyes. I had never heard of him before, but he seems to have made a lot of good choices early on in his life, and was certainly part of an early wave of the latest era of big labs at prestigious universities.
Most of the book is not about the science he or his lab did, a lot of that seems incidental to the various political maneuvering and business deals Hood was doing. This seems about right for what I'd expect from a prestigious academic, since running a big lab like this seems mostly to be about convincing people that what you are doing and what you have done is important, and you delegate all the actual doing of stuff to other people. As I'd expect from someone who was very successful at this, Hood doesn't seem like a particularly great person, and at least mildly ruthless. I don't think I had to read between the lines too much to see that.
Most of the book is not about the science he or his lab did, a lot of that seems incidental to the various political maneuvering and business deals Hood was doing. This seems about right for what I'd expect from a prestigious academic, since running a big lab like this seems mostly to be about convincing people that what you are doing and what you have done is important, and you delegate all the actual doing of stuff to other people. As I'd expect from someone who was very successful at this, Hood doesn't seem like a particularly great person, and at least mildly ruthless. I don't think I had to read between the lines too much to see that.
March 5, 2020
Even though my own field is ecology I have known about Leroy Hood since I was an undergraduate in the early 2000’s right on the heals of the human genome project. His approach to systems biology (systems ecology exists as well) fascinated me and as a child of the 90’s at the confluence of the computer revolution and the dawn of the genomics era I felt this book would offer some nostalgia as well as inspiration. It did in fact deliver but Timmerman did have some irritating tendencies such as one found on page 62 regarding the immune response: “when a foreign virus or bacteria invaded the body, B cells (so-called because they’re produced in the bone marrow) are alerted...” Stop the train. This is false. B cells are named after the Bursa Fabricius in chickens following experiments by Bruce Glick in 1955. I mean come on? It’s a small error but how many much more carelessness was there throughout? My other complaint involves the lack of a glossary.
Ultimately it “seems” honest although the author appears to have a rather free wheeling style.
Ultimately it “seems” honest although the author appears to have a rather free wheeling style.
January 13, 2018
Interesting stories about Hood's career. Skipped through the parts which didn't really pertain to his career.
As a scientist, it was really interesting to know many of the details of Hood's career like the challenges faced while building the DNA sequencer and his change of institutions. However, I doubt if this book will be as interesting to someone who is not involved in science. There was content about his personal life which I often decided to skip. I found the book boring sometimes when the author goes too much into the details of the issue at hand.
As a scientist, it was really interesting to know many of the details of Hood's career like the challenges faced while building the DNA sequencer and his change of institutions. However, I doubt if this book will be as interesting to someone who is not involved in science. There was content about his personal life which I often decided to skip. I found the book boring sometimes when the author goes too much into the details of the issue at hand.
July 13, 2017
Gripping account of modern scientific innovated
The author has captured the excitement and intensity of the life of one of our times' most creative and forward thinking scientists. He succeeds in portraying Hood's strengths and weaknesses, while bringing down to a layman's understanding the fascinating recent accomplishments in genomics.
The author has captured the excitement and intensity of the life of one of our times' most creative and forward thinking scientists. He succeeds in portraying Hood's strengths and weaknesses, while bringing down to a layman's understanding the fascinating recent accomplishments in genomics.
September 2, 2019
Fascinating read on the groundbreaking work of Leroy Hood. The northwest connection made it all the more interesting. This is a must read if you like biographies of people who have made significant contributions in today's world.
November 8, 2017
Really well written bio...great to have such a detailed perspective into such a key contributor of genetic sequencing. Objectively highlights the positives and negatives of Hood's life
December 14, 2021
Finally finished! Probably a must read for anyone interested/working in the biotech space
April 29, 2019
great scientist
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews