Leroy Hood

“Life is a process of evolution.”

“Breast cancer isn't one disease - it's probably four or five different types, and without knowing what type a person has, you can't optimize treatment for them.”

“If you just focus on the smallest details, you never get the big picture right.”

“In the late 1970s, when I was a professor at Caltech, I pioneered four instruments for analyzing genes and proteins that revolutionized modern biology - and one of these, the automated DNA sequencer, enabled the Human Genome Project.”

“All of the details that most of us memorize in medical school - you don't have to learn those things. They're going to be in your computer.”

“Don't listen to the prevailing majority points of view. If you have new ideas, push them.”

“The major thing is to view biology as an information science.”

“To manipulate the immune system, you need to find the key bottlenecks that govern the system. The T-cell is an absolute bottleneck.”

“Each form of Alzheimer's disease should perturb different brain networks and so influence the concentration of different proteins that can be measured in the blood.”

“I didn't want my genome to be sequenced by any of the companies that were out there doing the partial sequences just from the point of view of commercialisation.”

“The wellness and prevention market will outgrow the health care market.”

“Data-intensive graph problems abound in the Life Science drug discovery and development process.”

“Changing the world is not easy, but its pursuit will change you profoundly.”

“I have good genes, and I also do lots of exercises.”

“If you go to the FDA with a drug that's only meant to treat 50 people, and it's a 95 percent cure rate, you'll get your drug approved.”

“The Human Genome Project has given us a genetic parts list.”

“For some people, it's best for their mental health to know they have the gene for Huntington's and some time in the future they'll have a problem. But to other people, it would be a disaster.”

“We are evolutionary descendents of this marvellous panoply of life. And what that says unequivocally is we have an utter total obligation to make sure we have an environment that not only is good for us but is good for all living organisms.”

“Don't underestimate the power of your vision to change the world. Whether that world is your office, your community, an industry or a global movement, you need to have a core belief that what you contribute can fundamentally change the paradigm or way of thinking about problems.”

“An important finding is that by determining the genome sequences of an entire family, one can identify many DNA sequencing errors and thus greatly increase the accuracy of the data. This will ultimately help us understand the role of genetic variations in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.”