Years active 1987–present Name A. Cuticchia | Education University of Georgia | |
Born December 28, 1966 (age 57) ( 1966-12-28 ) Washington D.C., United States Occupation Scientist
Geneticist
Lawyer
Author Books Genetics: A Handbook for Lawyers |
Anthony James Cuticchia Jr. (born December 28, 1966) is an American scientist with expertise in the fields of genetics, bioinformatics, and genomics. In particular, he was responsible for the collection of the data constituting the human gene map, prior to the final sequencing of the genome. He is also a practicing attorney.
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Early life
He grew up in College Park, Maryland. He received his B.A. in Biological Sciences, with honors, from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 1987. In March 1992, he completed his Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of Georgia studying under population scientist Jonathan Arnold. He went on to receive a J.D. magna cum laude, from the North Carolina Central School of Law in 2009.
Accomplishments
In the late 1980s Cuticchia applied the probabilistic metaheuristic method of simulated annealing as a method for genomic mapping. Through the use of binary fingerprinting of DNA (assigning the presence or absence of a particular sequence a 1/0) it was possible to quickly map the genome of Aspergillus nidulans. This was one of the first genomes physically mapped
In addition to his work in the development of mapping tools, in 1988, along with others, he applied the Markov chain model to predict the occurrence of DNA patterns.
He was the original Data Manager of the GDB Human Genome Database and served as its director both in Toronto at The Hospital for Sick Children as well as at RTI International. He has published several books on the human genome during the genetic mapping phase of the human genome project.
Career
Biotechnology involvement
Cuticchia was a scientific founder of New Chemical Entities, a drug discovery and information company founded in 1997. In 1999 it merged with Thetagen, a provided of pharmacogenomic services. New Chemical Entities was merged with Albany Molecular Research in 2001.
Awards
He has won numerous awards including: