PROFILE | After Major Advances In Hematology, Dr David Bodine Retires
Dr David Bodine, Leader of the National Human Genome Research Institute’s (NHGRI) Hematopoiesis Section and Chief of the Genetics and Molecular Biology Branch, reflects on his career, mentorship and the fields of gene therapy and hematology in a recent interview.
When David M. Bodine, Ph.D., arrived at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a postdoctoral fellowship in Arthur Nienhuis’s laboratory in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), he thought he was only going to stay for a year or two and then venture elsewhere to start his own research group.
Two years passed. And then his enjoyment of the science, resources, mentorship and local collegiality led to another 36 years. In that time, Dr Bodine founded and led the Hematopoiesis Section at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and was later named Chief of NHGRI’s Genetics and Molecular Biology Branch.
After graduating from Colby College with a bachelor’s degree in 1976, Dr. Bodine completed a master’s degree at Rutgers University. He then obtained a Ph.D. at the Jackson Laboratory, where he began studying diseases of blood cells. Such diseases would later become the focus of his scientific endeavors at NIH.
Throughout his career, Dr Bodine’s accomplishments have furthered the genetic understanding of blood disorders and opened avenues for more effective treatments. Among his contributions, he identified the genomic mutations that cause Diamond Blackfan Anemia, a condition in which patients cannot produce enough red blood cells. Each new piece of the genetic puzzle helps diagnose more patients with this condition at a molecular level, expanding patients’ options for the bone marrow donations needed for treatment.
He contributed to both biological insights about disease-causing mutations and the ability to overcome the effects of such mutations through gene therapy. He took part in the first successful gene transfer studies in a primate, an important step in the development of gene therapies for human use.
Dr Bodine recently completed a term as Associate Editor of the journal Blood and has served on the Editorial Boards of Blood, Experimental Hematology, British Journal of Hematology, American Journal of Hematology, Gene Therapy and Molecular Therapy.
