Ronald W.

Davis
Ronald Wayne "Ron" Davis (born July 17, 1941) is
professor of biochemistry and genetics, and director of Ronald W. Davis
the Stanford Genome Technology Center at Stanford
University.[4] Davis is a researcher in biotechnology
and molecular genetics, particularly active in human
and yeast genomics and the development of new
technologies in genomics, with over 64 biotechnology
patents.[5] In 2013, it was said of Davis that "A
substantial number of the major genetic advances of
the past 20 years can be traced back to Davis in some
way."[6] Since his son fell severely ill with myalgic
encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome Davis has
focused his research efforts into the illness.[7] Ron Davis in 2021
Born July 17, 1941
Charleston, Illinois[3]
Scientific career Education California Institute of Technology,
Eastern Illinois University
After completing his PhD at Caltech and a postdoctoral
fellowship at Harvard University working with Jim Known for Human Genome Project
Watson, Davis joined the faculty of Stanford's patents in biotechnology
department of biochemistry in 1972.[8] He became an ME/CFS research
associate professor in 1980, full professor in 1980, and Spouse Janet Dafoe ​(m. 1969)​
joined the department of genetics as a professor in Children 2
1990. He became director of the Stanford Genome
Awards Precision Medicine World
Technology Center in 1994. He was elected a member
Conference Luminary Award
of the National Academy of Sciences in 1983.[9][10]
(2015)[1]
Davis developed the R-loop technique of electron Warren Alpert Foundation Prize
microscopy for mapping coding RNAs which led to (2013)
the discovery of RNA splicing.[11] With Janet E. Gruber Prize in Genetics (2011)[2]
Mertz, Davis was the first to demonstrate the use of Distinguished Alumni Award,
restriction endonucleases for joining DNA California Institute of Technology
fragments. [12] Davis collaborated in the development (2007)
of the first DNA microarray for gene expression
Dickson Prize in Medicine (2005)
profiling with Patrick O. Brown,[13] and the gene
Lifetime Achievement Award,
expression profile of the first complete eukaryotic
Genetics Society of America
genome (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).[14] Davis, with
(2004)
David Botstein, Mark Skolnick, and Ray White
developed the method[15] for constructing a genetic Rosenstiel Award (1991)
linkage map using restriction fragment length NAS Award in Molecular Biology
polymorphisms that enabled and led to the Human (1981)
Genome Project.
He and his colleagues submitted a proposal to NIH to Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology and
map the human genome in 1979; that proposal was Immunology (1976)
turned down as being too ambitious.[8] The Stanford Scientific career
Genome Technology Center was included in the
Fields Biochemistry
Human Genome Project that began in 1990 and was
Molecular Genetics
completed in 2003.
Genomics
In 2013, Davis founded the Stanford Chronic Fatigue Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic
Syndrome Research Center (now called ME/CFS fatigue syndrome
Collaborative Research Center).[7] Institutions Stanford University, Harvard
University, Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory
Recognition and awards Thesis A Study of the Base Sequence
Arrangement in DNA by Electron
In 2013 Davis was named, alongside Elon Musk and Microscopy (https://thesis.library.c
Jeff Bezos, as one of today's nine greatest innovators altech.edu/3675/) (1970)
by The Atlantic: "A substantial number of the major
genetic advances of the past 20 years can be traced back to Davis in some way."[6]

He has won recognition for his contributions to genetic research from many groups, as early as 1976 and
as recently as 2015, from one of his alumni colleges and from the National Academy of Sciences. In
2015, he received the Precision Medicine World Conference Luminary Award for his development of “R-
loop Technique of Electron Microscopy”.[1] In 2013, he received the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize.

He received the Gruber Prize in Genetics in 2011, which noted among other achievements, two landmark
papers, one in 1977 concerning genome editing and another in 1980 which "helped launch the field of
genomics."[2] In 2007, California Institute of Technology gave him its Distinguished Alumni Award. In
2005, Davis received the Dickson Prize in Medicine. In 2004, he received the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Genetics Society of America. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) gave him the
1982 NAS Award in Molecular Biology. In 1976, he received the Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology and
Immunology.

Open Medicine Foundation

Dr. Davis is the director of the Scientific Advisory Board at the Open Medicine Foundation, a non-profit
organization, whose goal is to fund and initiate research into chronic complex diseases.[16] Presently the
foundation is invested in The End ME/CFS Project, which aims to fast-track research for a cure for
myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).[17]

In April 2019, a notable result was reported; a test of blood without red cells (white cells in plasma),
identified ME/CFS patients from healthy people with 100% accuracy in a small sample, 20 patients and
20 healthy people.[18][19][20] The test used a biotechnological device designed by Davis and his team,
which is called the "nanoneedle".

“The small device that Davis and his colleagues created was originally developed to detect changes in
electrical signals when cancer cells were exposed to different treatments.”, as described in Stat News.[19]
it was used to test cells of ME/CFS patients, and in their first hypothesis, found it to be useful in
distinguishing patients from healthy people. People with this disease are described as not using energy
well and taking a long time to recover from energy expenditure; “the researchers decided to mimic this by
stressing cells from 20 healthy controls and 20 ME/CFS patients by exposing them to increased levels of
salt.”[19] Rahim Esfandyarpour, lead author of the paper, said “When they [cells from ME/CFS patients]
face this new environment, their reaction is different than the reaction of healthy cells.”[19]

Davis's research became more urgent and important after Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that some COVID-
19 survivors showed symptoms in line with those of ME/CFS. According to Fauci, "a considerable
number" of COVID-19 survivors struggle with extreme exhaustion, memory lapses, and cognitive
difficulties many months after they have been officially cleared as recovered. Davis is part of a high-level
interagency work and research group with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, and the Department of Defense looking at the
long-term consequences of COVID-19 and Long COVID.[7]

Family
Davis married Janet Dafoe in July 1969.[3][8] Their son, Whitney Dafoe was born in 1983, followed by
their daughter Ashley Davis.[3]

Whitney Dafoe became ill with severe ME/CFS around 2009,[8] declining from active and healthy in his
career as a photographer to housebound, and by 2015 bed bound from this disease, unable to tolerate
sounds and light, unable to do much at all, and eventually unable to eat, drink or speak.[21][22] As his
endurance decreased, Dafoe moved back home in May 2011.[8] His mother cut her work as a clinical
psychologist to five hours a week to spend full time on his daily care as he continued declining in
function,[8] while Davis continues his research career and helps with his son's daily care. Dafoe's need for
treatment is the motivation for Davis to direct his medical and scientific research efforts toward this
disease; he dropped all other projects in hand before his son became so ill.[17][8]

See also
The Puzzle Solver

References
1. "Past Luminary Awards" (https://www.pmwcintl.com/2019sv/awards/). PMWC 2019 Silicon
Valley Luminary & Pioneer Awards. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
2. "2011 Gruber Genetics Prize: Ronald W. Davis" (https://gruber.yale.edu/genetics/ronald-davi
s). Gruber Foundation at Yale. 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
3. "Happy 75th Birthday to Scientist Ronald W. Davis, PhD" (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T
c0tf-Hb_wE&feature=youtu.be). Open Medicine Foundation (video). July 12, 2016.
Retrieved May 3, 2019.
4. "Genome Technology Center: History" (http://med.stanford.edu/sgtc/general/history.html).
Stanford Medicine. Palo Alto, California. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
5. "Center Publications – Genome Technology Center" (http://med.stanford.edu/sgtc/publicatio
ns.html). Stanford University School of Medicine. December 12, 2013. Retrieved May 3,
2019.
 6. Allan, Nicole (October 23, 2013). "Who Will Tomorrow's Historians Consider Today's
Greatest Inventors?" (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-inventors/3
09534/). The Atlantic.
7. Haas, Michaela (January 2, 2021). "A geneticist's biggest challenge: Curing his own son" (ht
tps://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/1/2/a-geneticists-biggest-challenge-curing-his-own-s
on). Al Jazeera. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
8. Prior, Ryan (May 13, 2019). "He pioneered technology that fueled the Human Genome
Project. Now his greatest challenge is curing his own son" (https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/1
2/health/stanford-geneticist-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-trnd/index.html). CNN. Retrieved
May 14, 2019.
9. "Ronald W. Davis" (http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/56458.html).
National Academy of Sciences member directory. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
10. "Ronald W. Davis Honors and Awards" (https://med.stanford.edu/sgtc/general/RonDavis_pro
file.html). Stanford Medicine Genome Technology Center. May 15, 2017. Retrieved
January 18, 2021.
11. University of Pittsburgh University Marketing Communications Webteam. "Ronald W. Davis,
PhD – Dickson Prize in Medicine – University of Pittsburgh" (http://www.dicksonprize.pitt.ed
u/recipients/2005-davis.php).
12. Mertz, J. E.; Davis, R. W. (1972). "Cleavage of DNA by RI restriction endonuclease
generates cohesive ends" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC389773).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 69 (11): 3370–3374.
Bibcode:1972PNAS...69.3370M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1972PNAS...69.3370M).
doi:10.1073/pnas.69.11.3370 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.69.11.3370). PMC 389773
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC389773). PMID 4343968 (https://pubmed.nc
bi.nlm.nih.gov/4343968).
13. Schena, M.; Shalon, D.; Davis, R. W.; Brown, P. O. (1995). "Quantitative monitoring of gene
expression patterns with a complementary DNA microarray". Science. 270 (5235): 467–470.
Bibcode:1995Sci...270..467S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995Sci...270..467S).
doi:10.1126/science.270.5235.467 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.270.5235.467).
PMID 7569999 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7569999). S2CID 6720459 (https://api.sem
anticscholar.org/CorpusID:6720459).
14. Lashkari DA, DeRisi JL, McCusker JH, Namath AF, Gentile C, Hwang SY, Brown PO, Davis
RW (1997). "Yeast microarrays for genome wide parallel genetic and gene expression
analysis" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC24262). Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. 94 (24): 13057–13062. Bibcode:1997PNAS...9413057L (htt
ps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997PNAS...9413057L). doi:10.1073/pnas.94.24.13057 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.94.24.13057). PMC 24262 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC24262). PMID 9371799 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9371799).
15. Botstein, D.; White, R.; Skolnick, M.; Davis, R. (1980). "Construction of a genetic linkage
map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pmc/articles/PMC1686077). American Journal of Human Genetics. 32 (3): 314–331.
PMC 1686077 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686077). PMID 6247908 (ht
tps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6247908).
16. "Scientific Advisory Board" (https://www.omf.ngo/scientific-advisory-board/). Open Medicine
Foundation. Agoura Hills, California. 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
17. "The End ME/CFS Project" (https://www.omf.ngo/the-end-mecfs-project/). Open Medicine
Foundation. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
18. "What does the nanoneedle research mean for ME/CFS patients?" (https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=6Qn0fIV8SbE). Open Medical Foundation (video). April 29, 2019. Retrieved
May 4, 2019.
19. Chadradhar, Shraddha (April 30, 2019). "An experimental test may help confirm cases of
chronic fatigue syndrome" (https://www.statnews.com/2019/04/30/experimental-test-may-hel
p-confirm-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/). Stat News. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
20. Esfandyarpour, R.; Kashi, A.; Nemat-Gorgani, M.; Wilhelmy, J.; Davis, R. W. (April 29,
2019). "A nanoelectronics-blood-based diagnostic biomarker for myalgic
encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/a
rticles/PMC6535016). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (21): 10250–
10257. Bibcode:2019PNAS..11610250E (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019PNAS..116
10250E). doi:10.1073/pnas.1901274116 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.1901274116).
PMC 6535016 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6535016). PMID 31036648
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31036648).
21. "Invisible Illness – Stories of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9
_HwOUiImvw). Palo Alto Online (video). July 10, 2015. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
22. "Finding an ME/CFS Biomarker, Ronald Davis, Stanford University" (https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=BW4LIITEhIA&t=0s). ME/CFS Alert 109 (video). September 13, 2019. Retrieved
September 20, 2019.

External links
Ron Davis Lab Homepage at Stanford University (http://med.stanford.edu/sgtc/)
Ron Davis Profile at Stanford University (https://profiles.stanford.edu/ronald-davis)
History of Stanford Biochemistry Department (http://news.stanford.edu/stanfordtoday/ed/961
1/9611fea1b01.shtml) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120902075824/http://news.st
anford.edu/stanfordtoday/ed/9611/9611fea1b01.shtml) 2012-09-02 at the Wayback Machine
Educational Overview of Restriction Enzymes by Leslie Pray (http://www.nature.com/scitabl
e/topicpage/restriction-enzymes-545)
Gruber Prize Press Release (http://www.gruberprizes.org/PressReleases/PressRelease_20
11_Genetics.php)
Biographic Slideshow Video from 70th Birthday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEr4Z8
daij0) on YouTube

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