Preston Estep

Preston Estep
Estep in 2020
Born1960 (1960)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCornell University (B.S.)
Harvard University (Ph.D.)
Known forGenomics, genetics, DNA sequencing
SpouseMartha Bulyk
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry, genomics
InstitutionsHarvard Medical School
ThesisGenomic approaches to connecting the transcriptional regulatory network of Saccharomyces cerevisiae stress responses (2001)
Doctoral advisorGeorge M. Church

Preston "Pete" Wayne Estep III is an American biologist and science and technology advocate. He is a graduate of Cornell University, where he did neuroscience research, and he earned a Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University. He did his doctoral research in the laboratory of genomics pioneer Professor George M. Church at Harvard Medical School.[1]

Estep is an inventor of several technologies including DNA chip-based readout of transposon-based selections [2] and universal DNA protein-binding microarrays (PBMs).[3] He is Director of Gerontology and an adviser to the Personal Genome Project, the first "open-source" genome project founded by George Church and based at Harvard Medical School. He is one of the main subjects of the documentary film Reconvergence.

Estep was the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Veritas Genetics. He is one of the scientific experts featured throughout the first season of the Netflix series Unnatural Selection. In the show, Estep says it is important to obtain genomic information from extraordinary people. Subsequently, he tests the recall abilities of memory champion Nelson Dellis, and then the two tour a genetics lab and observe large DNA sequencing machines as they discuss sequencing Dellis's genome.

Early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic Estep founded the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative (RaDVaC), an open source vaccine project that controversially featured vaccine self administration.[4][5][6][7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Badarinarayana V, Estep PW 3rd, Shendure J, Edwards J, Tavazoie S, Lam F, Church GM. Selection analyses of insertional mutants using subgenic-resolution arrays. Nat. Biotechnol. 2001 Nov;19(11):1060-5.
  3. ^ Berger, MF; Philippakis, AA; Qureshi, AM; He, FS; Estep, PW; Bulyk, ML (Nov 2006). "Compact, universal DNA microarrays to comprehensively determine transcription-factor binding site specificities". Nat Biotechnol. 24 (11): 1429–35. doi:10.1038/nbt1246. PMC 4419707. PMID 16998473.
  4. ^ "'Warp speed' is too slow for scientists testing COVID-19 vaccine on themselves". Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  5. ^ "US scientists taking home-made Covid vaccines". 16 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  6. ^ "Some scientists are taking a DIY coronavirus vaccine, and nobody knows if it's legal or if it works". Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  7. ^ "These Scientists Are Giving Themselves D.I.Y. Coronavirus Vaccines". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-10-13.