Jonathan rothberg

Dr. Rothberg was born in 1963 in New Haven, Connecticut. He earned a B.S. in chemical engineering with an option in Biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.S., M.Phil, and Ph.D. in biology from Yale University.

Dr. Rothberg was the first person to sequence an individual human genome (Dr. Rothberg sequenced the genome of Dr. Jim Watson for this historic event), and initiated the age of the personal genomics. Dr. Rothberg is the founder of CuraGen Corporation, 454 Life Sciences, Clarifi Corporation, The Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases, and the co-founder and Chairman of RainDance Technologies.

Dr. Rothberg was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the receipt of The Wall Street Journal’s Gold Medal for Innovation for his invention of 454 sequencing, and The Irvington Institute’s Corporate Leadership Award in Science. Dr. Rothberg has appeared on CNBC for his pioneering work in the field of genomics medicine and his scientific work has been featured on the covers of leading scientific journals including Cell, Science, and Nature. While at CuraGen Dr. Rothberg developed a series of new medicines, now in over 14 human clinical trials, for the treatment of a wide range of cancers. Dr. Rothberg’s invention of a new way to sequence DNA on a chip – 454 Sequencing, first motivated by his son’s visit to the emergency room, has ushered in the era of personal medicine allowing the first routing sequencing of individuals and is now in use at major pharmaceutical companies, universities, genome centers, and medical centers around the world.

Most recently Dr. Rothberg completed the first sequence of an individual human being (James D. Watson) and initiated the Neanderthal Genome project.

Dr. Rothberg is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, and serves on the board of trustees of Carnegie Mellon University.