Bruce Birren

Bruce Birren, Ph.D.

Bruce Birren

Bruce Birren is the director of the Genomic Center for Infectious Diseases at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he is also an institute scientist. He also is the founding advisor to the institute's Diversity Initiative in Scientific Research.

Birren is an expert in and key contributor to many areas of genomics. He co-developed the technique of bacterial artificial chromosomes, which is used to clone long pieces of DNA in bacteria. He played a central role in mapping and sequencing both human and mouse genomes. He directs genomic studies of infectious diseases, including projects centered on bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and insect vectors of disease, as well as research on vertebrate evolution.

Birren is an NIH National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) Master Facilitator, leading research mentor, mentee and facilitator trainings nationally as part of a broad mission to diversify the biomedical research workforce.

June 2017