Leroy Hood

Leroy "Lee" Edward Hood (born October 10, 1938) is an American biologist who has served on the faculties at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Washington. Hood has developed ground-breaking scientific instruments which made possible major advances in the biological sciences and the medical sciences. These include the first gas phase protein sequencer (1982), for determining the sequence of amino acids in a given protein; a DNA synthesizer (1983), to synthesize short sections of DNA; a peptide synthesizer (1984), to combine amino acids into longer peptides and short proteins; the first automated DNA sequencer (1986), to identify the order of nucleotides in DNA; ink-jet oligonucleotide technology for synthesizing DNA and nanostring technology for analyzing single molecules of DNA and RNA.

The protein sequencer, DNA synthesizer, peptide synthesizer, and DNA sequencer were commercialized through Applied Biosystems, Inc. and the ink-jet technology was commercialized through Agilent Technologies. The automated DNA sequencer was an enabling technology for the Human Genome Project. The peptide synthesizer was used in the synthesis of the HIV protease by Stephen Kent and others, and the development of a protease inhibitor for AIDS treatment.

Hood established the first cross-disciplinary biology department, the Department of Molecular Biotechnology (MBT), at the University of Washington in 1992, and co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology in 2000. Hood is credited with introducing the term "systems biology", and advocates for "P4 medicine", medicine that is "predictive, personalized, preventive, and participatory." Scientific American counted him among the 10 most influential people in the field of biotechnology in 2015.

Hood was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2007 for the invention and commercialization of key instruments, notably the automated DNA sequencer, that have enabled the biotechnology revolution.

Hood was born on October 10, 1938, in Missoula, Montana, to Thomas Edward Hood and Myrtle Evylan Wadsworth. and grew up in Shelby. His father was an electrical engineer, and his mother had a degree in home economics. Hood was one of four children, including a sister and two brothers, including a brother with Down syndrome. One of his grandfathers was a rancher and ran a summer geology camp for university students, which Hood attended as a high school student. Hood excelled in math and science, being one of forty students nationally to win a Westinghouse Science Talent Search. In addition, Hood played several high school sports and debate, the latter of which he would credit for his success in science communication later in his career.

Hood received his undergraduate education from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where his professors included notables such as Richard Feynman and Linus Pauling. Hood received an MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1964 and a PhD from Caltech in 1968, where he worked with William J. Dreyer on antibody diversity. Dreyer is credited with giving Hood two important pieces of advice: “If you want to practice biology, do it on the leading edge, and if you want to be on the leading edge, invent new tools for deciphering biological information.”

In 1967, Hood joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to work in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute as a senior investigator.

In 1970, he returned to Caltech as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1973, full professor in 1975, and was named Bowles Professor of Biology in 1977. He served as chairman of the Division of Biology from 1980-1989 and director of Caltech's Special Cancer Center in 1981.