G. Christian Overton
G. Christian Overton | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Christian Overton February 15, 1948 |
| Died | June 1, 2000 (aged 52)[1] |
| Alma mater | |
| Children | 4 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Bioinformatics |
| Institutions | University of Pennsylvania |
| Thesis | An analysis of the structure and heterogeneity of histone genes in the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (1979) |
George Christian Overton (February 15, 1948 – June 1, 2000) was a bioinformatician and Director of the Center for Bioinformatics at the University of Pennsylvania.[3] He is recognised as a pioneer in genomics research.[4]
Education and career
Overton received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Physics from the University of New Mexico in 1971,[5] and his PhD in biophysics in 1979 from Johns Hopkins University. His thesis was on histone genes in the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.[6]
In the 1980s, Overton was part of the artificial intelligence research group at the Unisys Center for Advanced Information Technology in Pennsylvania.[7]
He joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1991 as a research associate professor of genetics in the School of Medicine. In 1997, he became associate professor and director of the Center for Bioinformatics.[1] His research interests included genome annotation, gene prediction and recognition of regulatory elements.[3]
From 1997 to 2000, Overton was a member of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Board of Directors.[8][9]
Death and legacy
Overton died in 2000 from complications arising from cardiomyopathy.[1] Subsequently, the ISCB set up the Overton Prize in his honor; the prize is awarded annually to a scientist in the early to mid-career stage who has already made a significant contribution to the field of computational biology.[9] The first recipient was Christopher Burge.
References
- ^ a b c "Death of Dr. Overton- Almanac Between Issues 6/2/00". almanac.upenn.edu. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ "Obituaries". The Pennsylvania Gazette. 1 January 2001. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ a b Davidson, Susan; Stoeckert, Chris (February 2002). "Dr. G. Christian Overton". In Silico Biology. 2 (1). doi:10.3233/ISB-00021.
- ^ Kolchanov, Nikolay; Hodgman, Charlie (1 November 2001). "The 2nd international conference on the Bioinformatics of Genome Regulation and Structure (BGRS-2000), Novosibirsk, August 2000". Bioinformatics. 17 (11): 997–997. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/17.11.997.
- ^ "PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BIOINFORMATICS OF GENOME REGULATION AND STRUCTURE Volume 2". Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ "An analysis of the structure and heterogeneity of histone genes in the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ "BS Physics :: UNM Department of Physics and Astronomy | The University of New Mexico". physics.unm.edu. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ "Past Officers and Directors". www.iscb.org. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Overton Prize". www.iscb.org. Retrieved 3 September 2025.