Juergen Reichardt has a long and distinguished career in gene discovery and, more recently the functional assessment of DNA variants. Examples of these include: cloning of the gene for classic galactosemia encoding galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase (GALT) with Nobel-prize winner Paul Berg in 1988 at Stanford. Reporting the first galactosemia mutations with Savio Woo in 1991 while at Baylor. Cloning the human gene for epimerase-deficiency galactosemia (UDP-glucose 4’ epimerase; GALE) in 1995. Reporting the first association between genetic variants in the human steroid 5α-reductase type II (encoded by the SRD5A2 gene) and prostate cancer in 1999. He identified and characterized significant biochemical and pharmacogenetic variation in human steroid 5α -reductase type II (encoded by the SRD5A2 gene) in 2000. He also discovered common somatic mutations in prostate cancer in the human steroid 5α -reductase type II (SRD5A2) gene in 2004.
He was on the faculty at USC (the University of Southern California) for 13 years. Juergen arrived in 2005 in Australia as the Plunkett Chair of Molecular Biology (Medicine) in Sydney where he continued many of his investigations as well as branching out into new areas by establishing new collaborations in Australia particularly in relationship to complex genetic traits, especially heart disease. Juergen is currently the Head of School, Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences at James Cook University. Furthermore, he serves as the Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Sciences at James Cook University.
Juergen Reichardt has coauthored almost 150 peer-reviewed publications and has held uninterrupted external funding for some 20 years on two continents. He also serves on the Council of HuGO, the Human Genome Organization, has coorganized various international meetings, including the HGM 2012 (Human Genome Meeting 2012 in Sydney; Australia) and a series of PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Meetings in 3 different countries, he was a visiting professor at many universities, including Rome in 2013 and serves also on seven international editorial boards.
Finally, he has lived in six countries on four continents bringing a truly international perspective to his work. Juergen is interested in serving on the Human Variome International Advisory Committee because of his interest in human genomics and particularly the biochemical, pharmacogenetic and phenotypic, incl. disease-related, significance of human genomic variation. Furthermore, he has a truly international background having lived in 7 countries on 4 continents which would suit this position particularly well. Consequently, he also speaks a variety of languages.
