The Jackson Laboratory announced Tuesday that technology investor David Roux and his wife, Barbara, have donated $5 million to help translate the laboratory’s understanding of the human genome into practical cures for genetically based diseases.
The funds will be used to establish the Roux Family Center for Genomics and Computational Biology, which aims to create a collaborative environment for scientists to develop therapeutic remedies that would address several of the biggest health concerns facing the world today, such as neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases. The center will be based out of the laboratory’s Bar Harbor, Maine, and Farmington, Connecticut, locations. The $5 million donation will be matched by the laboratory for a total $10 million investment.
David Roux, co-founder of technology investment firm Silver Lake, was drawn to the laboratory’s pioneering understanding of the human genome and believes the next step in genome research is to “translate [The Jackson Laboratory’s] understanding into practical therapies that could address many of the most dangerous health care issues that face the world,” Roux said in a phone interview.
The human genome is the complete set of genetic information encoded in DNA sequences within chromosome pairs. As scientists have begun to understand what the genome comprises, they may have stumbled on the opportunity to unlock the cures to cancer, neurodegenerative disease, autoimmune diseases and many more unanswered health questions, according to Roux.
“I have a strong belief that medicine and health care are going to be fundamentally transformed by the scientific community’s understanding of the human genome,” Roux said. “We think there is an opportunity to develop actual therapies, to take the research and do some development.”
The center is designed to draw the best and brightest biomedical scientists and researchers to the laboratory by providing them with unique research opportunities through advanced technologies and collaboration. According to Roux, problems such as discovering medicinal remedies takes experienced scientists, who typically work alone to develop research.
“[The center] will create for them a larger and more powerful connection by giving them more resources and the opportunity to collaborate with other scientists,” Roux said. “With [medical development] there is so much going on so fast, and if you’re just in your lab with your head down you’re going to miss it.”
As the co-founder and senior director of a tech-investment firm that got its start in Silicon Valley, Roux had a front-row seat to the digital revolution of the 20th century and has seen how investments in innovation can better society. While Roux admits there are other big social and economic challenges facing the world, he says discoveries in medical research are at the point where something can be done to answer its complex questions.
“[Medical research] is a big opportunity to make the world a better place,” Roux said. “What attracts me is that there a clear path to victory here.”
In order to chart this path to victory and ultimately discover medical remedies to genetic diseases, Roux stresses the importance of investors, both public and private, making commitments to genomic research.
The Jackson Laboratory is a nonprofit organization based out of Bar Harbor, Maine, with a satellite facility in Sacramento, California, and a genomic medicine institute in Farmington, Connecticut. Roux is on the Laboratory’s board of trustees.