The IGB honors the legacy of Harris Lewin with our first named endowment, “The Harris A. Lewin Pioneer in Genomic Biology Distinguished Lecture.” Through his foresight and determination, Dr. Lewin spearheaded the effort at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to create an interdisciplinary campus institute to advance life science research and stimulate economic growth. The Lewin Lecture recognizes a world-renowned scientist each year, as part of our Pioneers in Genomic Biology lecture series.
Dr. Lewin’s vision empowered a team of faculty, staff, and students to meld progressive scientific ideas with innovative methods of conducting research through the launch of a new institute, the IGB. Leveraging the state’s initial $75 million investment this team was awarded over $150 million in grants and contracts under Dr. Lewin’s term. His collaborative efforts with academic departments helped secure twenty-six new faculty hires for the campus within five years. Additionally, he developed the IGB Fellows Program, which allowed postdoctoral scientists the chance to do independent research before launching their formal careers. The IGB saw 29 Fellows during Dr. Lewin’s leadership period, of which many grew to assume prominent positions among the nation’s leading institutions. Dr. Lewin provided advice, funding, and most importantly lab space to the iGEM multi-disciplinary undergraduate research team in synthetic biology, who competed internationally and have earned medals each year since 2008.
Dr. Lewin is widely known for his research in comparative mammalian genomics and immunogenetics. He was part of an international team that sequenced the cow genome in 2009. He established the immunology program in the Department of Animal Sciences to study genes associated with immune responses of cattle to infectious diseases, which led to the identification of genes conferring resistance to the bovine leukemia virus and to a patent on a method to detect animals that can pass resistance to the disease to their offspring. His research group pioneered technology for functional genomics in cattle, and he has made significant contributions to the understanding of mammalian chromosome evolution. Dr. Lewin is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the 2011 recipient of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. After serving as the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California, Davis from 2011-2016, he now holds Distinguished Professor Emeritus status at UC Davis.
The Harris A. Lewin Pioneer in Genomic Biology Distinguished Lecture plays an important role in the academic and research life of the campus, and especially the IGB, allowing students and faculty to continue to interact with distinguished scientists from around the world. With this lecture series we recognize Harris Lewin’s 26 years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his commitment to research, public engagement, and the collaborative spirit that embodies the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.
