About

IGB Director

Gene Robinson

Gene E. Robinson, Director

A beehive is breathtakingly beautiful in both its simplicity and its complexity. A successful hive requires all parts to be working in harmony—roles are clearly defined. As an entomologist, I’ve been studying bee behavior for more than 25 years, so perhaps it’s not unusual for me to draw parallels between the hive and the busy, bustling labs that now comprise the Institute for Genomic Biology.

As the new director of the Institute, I am struck by the similarities—we are more than 800 people, faculty, staff, post docs, graduate and undergraduate students, all working toward our common goal to advance life science research and stimulate bioeconomic development in the state of Illinois.

As one of the Institute’s original theme leaders, I have been a part of the IGB since the beginning, and it is truly an honor to take over leadership of an institution that has been so successful in such a short period of time. The state of Illinois invested $75 million in 2003 to fund the construction and start up of the IGB—and in less than a decade, we have more than recouped construction costs with external grants and contracts. As we’ve grown, we’ve had some tremendous early successes. Our intellectual property output has ramped up: in FY2010 we had nine disclosures and eight U.S. patent applications, were issued one patent, and optioned two licenses. And IGB researchers have also developed:

  • A cheaper way to synthesize antibiotics
  • A new yeast strain that will improve biofuels production
  • A method to kill cancer cells
  • An algorithm to automatically integrate genomic and metabolic data
  • An improved procedure for collecting vaginal microbiome samples

I am confident that many other advances and discoveries are in the pipeline, and I look forward to leading the Institute as we pursue our mission. It is exciting to see our scientists move forward with groundbreaking research to address problems that confront humanity while we also engage our community and educate the next generation of scientists.

All of this would not have been possible without the inspired leadership of Founding Director Harris Lewin. He was a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois for 26 years, and he helped propel the IGB to become a leader in biology and life sciences research. He worked to transform the intellectual landscape at the Institute and the University of Illinois, and we thank him for his uncompromising vision of excellence for the Institute.

That vision has led to “Vision 2015,” our ambitious agenda for the future of the Institute. As Director, I am mindful of the need for continuity and consistency in the research that we are pursuing, but I also know that we cannot afford inertia—we must embrace new opportunities whenever we can! In conjunction with our faculty and staff, we are considering new research themes, planning new educational opportunities, and developing new ideas to spark economic development through our discoveries.

This strategic approach to the future is critical to our continued success. Realizing the full potential of the genomic revolution requires integrating approaches and results from different sub-disciplines of biology with technologies, approaches, and information from disciplines such as engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and the geological and atmospheric sciences. Given that IGB researchers come from more than 30 different departments across campus, the Institute is clearly poised to lead that charge.

IGB research is creative, collaborative, and focused on solving real-world problems in agriculture, human health, the environment, and energy use and production. As we enter this new chapter in the Institute’s story, I look forward to leading us into the next phase of growth and innovation.

— Gene E. Robinson 

About Dr. Robinson

Gene E. Robinson is the Director of the Institute for Genomic Biology. He holds a Swanlund Chair at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has been since 1989. He is also the Director of the Neuroscience Program and a Professor of Entomology with affiliate appointments in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, the Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, and the Beckman Institute of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Ohio State University. Robinson’s research group studies the mechanisms and evolution of social behavior, using the honey bee as the primary model. The research is integrative, involving perspectives from evolutionary biology, behavior, neuroscience, molecular biology, and genomics. He has authored or coauthored approximately 250 publications. He pioneered the field of sociogenomics, spearheaded the effort to gain approval from NIH for the sequencing of the honey bee genome, and heads the Honey Bee Genome Sequencing Consortium. His honors include: University Scholar, G. William Arends Professor of Integrative Biology, and Center for Advanced Study Professor at the University of Illinois; Certificate of Distinction from the International Congress of Entomology; Burroughs Welcome Innovation Award in Functional Genomics; Founders Memorial Award from the Entomological Society of America; Fulbright Senior Research Fellow; Guggenheim Fellow; Fellow, Entomological Society of America; Fellow, Animal Behavior Society; Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences; and election to the US National Academy of Sciences.