William H. Andrews (biologist)
| William H. Andrews | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 10, 1951 Saginaw, Michigan, U.S. |
| Residence | US |
| Citizenship | American |
| Fields | Molecular biology |
| Institutions | Sierra Sciences |
| Alma mater | University of Georgia |
| Notable awards | IPO National Inventor of the Year (second place) |
William Henry Andrews, Ph.D. (born December 10, 1951) is an American molecular biologist and gerontologist whose career has centered on searching for a cure for human aging. Andrews is the founder and president of the biotechnology company Sierra Sciences. In 1997, he led the team at Geron Corporation that was the first to successfully identify human telomerase.
Andrews was born on December 10, 1951, to television producer Ralph Andrews and Margaret Andrews. As a child, Andrews was told by his father that he should grow up to become a doctor and find a cure for aging. Andrews graduated from Cate School in 1971, from University of California, San Diego in 1976, and earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Population Genetics at the University of Georgia in 1981.
Andrews first worked at the biotechnology company Armos Corporation, which was later purchased by Codon Corporation, which in turn was purchased by Berlex Biosciences, now known as Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals. In 1993, Andrews convinced Berlex to send him to an anti-aging conference at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he met Calvin Harley of Geron Corporation. Harley gave a speech on the subject of telomeres and telomerase, their discovery in the organism Tetrahymena by Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider, and on the possible connection between telomeres and aging. Harley mentioned that no one had yet been successful in cloning telomerase in human beings.
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