Joseph DeRisi

Who is Joseph DeRisi?

Joseph DeRisi is an American biochemist, specializing in molecular biology, parasitology, genomics, virology, and computational biology.

He received a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford University.

Joseph DeRisi is currently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and a Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco with a joint appointment at the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences.

DeRisi's best-known achievements are printing the first whole genome expression array, performing the first broad analysis of differential gene expression in cancer cells, profiling gene expression throughout the lifecycle of the malaria-causing protozoan Plasmodium falciparum, his analysis of the SARS virus, and pioneering virus discovery using gene hybridization array and DNA sequencing technologies. Joe is also known for tackling any "cool problem" whatsoever, which generally come in the form of biological questions complicated by obstacles not surmountable without invention of new protocols and techniques.