The siren song of biology has seduced another prominent physical scientist. Astrophysicist and computer whiz George Lake announced last week that he is joining the new Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington.
Lake, a professor of astronomy and physics at the University of Washington, Seattle, for 15 years, is known for developing computer models that provided new insights into cosmology and the birth of planets. But he recently concluded that his former students "could capably carry on that work," and an informal chat with gene-sequencing pioneer Leroy Hood, who founded the institute last January, evolved into a job offer. He'll put his brainpower behind the Digital Life Initiative, a government-sponsored effort to create a comprehensive information system for biology.
Lake says that "it has become clear to me that biology has some of the hardest problems out there, with some of the most compelling reasons for finding solutions."
