PeerJ Editor
0 Points
Robert G Steen
PeerJ Editor
Summary
Director of the Biopolymers NextGen Sequencing Facility, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School.
Editorial Board Member
PeerJ - the Journal of Life & Environmental Sciences
Work details
Director Biopolymers NextGen Sequencing Facility
Harvard Medical School
July 2000
Genetics
Robert Steen is currently Director of the Biopolymers Next-Gen Sequencing (NGS) Genomics Core Facility within the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He has been directing the core facility for 17 years. Prior to this position, Robert was a project manager at the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research from September 1991 to July 2000 where he managed groups to develop genetic and physical maps of the mouse and rat as part of the Human Genome Sequencing Project. In his current role as director of the genomics core at Harvard Medical School, Robert is responsible for managing all aspects of the core facility including technology evaluation. The core's primary mission is to provide high quality, cutting edge genomics services to the Harvard Medical School faculty but the core is also permitted to provide services to outside researchers. Over the past twelve months the core has provided experimental services to ~2,000 research scientists from 392 labs and 43 institutions and private companies. The core provides a number of genomic services such as QPCR, Sanger Sequencing, DNA/RNA sample isolation, NGS library preparation and NGS sequencing. At this time, NGS is the core's largest service, with a growing focus on single cell RNA-Seq using both the Fluidigm C1 and 10X Genomics Chromium technologies. Constant evaluation of the NGS space and related technologies is a critical function of Robert's position. The core currently utilizes a number of different Illumina NGS sequencers as well as robotics for Illumina compatible library preparation from DNA and RNA sources. Robert is also currently a member of the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) and has served or is currently serving on the DNA Sequencing Research Group (DSRG), Genomics Research Group (GRG), the Northeast Regional Life Sciences Core Directors annual meeting organizing committee (NERLSCD-OC) and the ABRF Corporate Relations Committee (CRC). Throughout his career, Robert has authored over 40 publications in several peer-reviewed journals including Science and Nature.