Scott Woodward (biologist)

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Scott Ray Woodward [1] is a microbiologist and molecular biologist who specializes in genetic genealogy and ancient DNA studies. He was a professor[ ambiguous ] at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1989 to 2003. He was the president and principal investigator for the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation between 2005 and 2012, and the chief scientific officer from 2007 to 2012 at Genetree. He was the executive director of Genomic Study at Ancestry.com from 2012 to 2015. Since 2012 he has also taught at Utah Valley University. [2] He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Woodward graduated from the College of Eastern Utah in 1978. He received his Ph.D. from the Utah State University, where he studied under Eldon Gardner. In 1989, he was made a professor[ ambiguous ] at BYU. Early in his research career, he did DNA studies on Egyptian mummies [3] and the Dead Sea Scrolls. [4] He also led a team that worked to decipher dinosaur DNA. [5] He was involved in the discovery of the first genetic marker for cystic fibrosis.

In 1991, Woodward was one of the BYU professors who suggested that students be banned from driving cars to campus. [6]

In 1994, Woodward announced that he had extracted and typed DNA from an 80-million-year-old Cretaceous dinosaur bone, [7] but S. Blair Hedges [8] and other experts on ancient DNA [9] demonstrated that Woodward had really sequenced human DNA.

Woodward was a visiting professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1994–1995. [10]

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References

  1. Middle name from Google Book Search entry for his doctoral dissertation. See: Woodward, Scott Ray (1984). "Pedigree Analysis of the Gardner Syndrome and Other Polypoid Diseases". Google Book Search . Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  2. LinkedIn profile. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  3. Bauman, Joseph (August 15, 1995). "BYU Team Pulls Facts From Teeth of Mummies". Deseret News . Retrieved 2009-06-04.[ dead link ]
  4. "DNA Work May Help Unlock Scrolls' Mystery". Deseret News. February 5, 1995. Retrieved 2009-06-04.[ dead link ]
  5. John Noble Wilford (November 18, 1994). "A Scientist Says He Has Isolated Dinosaur DNA" . The New York Times.
  6. Adams, Brooke (December 9, 1991). "UTAH County Poll Finds Little Support For Ban on Driving". Deseret News. Retrieved 2009-06-04.[ dead link ]
  7. Woodward, SR; Weyand, NJ; Bunnell, M (November 18, 1994). "DNA sequence from Cretaceous period bone fragments". Science. 266 (5188): 1229–1232. Bibcode:1994Sci...266.1229W. doi:10.1126/science.7973705. PMID   7973705.
  8. Hedges, SB; Schweitzer, MH (May 26, 1995). "Detecting dinosaur DNA". Science. 268 (5214): 1191–2, author reply 1194. doi:10.1126/science.7761839. PMID   7761839.
  9. Zischler, H; Höss, M; Handt, O; von Haeseler, A; van der Kuyl, AC; Goudsmit, J (May 26, 1995). "Detecting dinosaur DNA". Science. 268 (5214): 1192–3, author reply 1194. doi: 10.1126/science.7605504 . PMID   7605504.
  10. Johnson, Cooper. "DNA and the Book of Mormon". Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research . Retrieved 2009-06-04.

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