Michael Purugganan
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Michael D. Purugganan (born
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
,
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
in 1963) is a
Filipino-American Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...
biologist and former journalist. He is the Silver Professor of Biology and the interim Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science of
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
(NYU). Purugganan is also an affiliated faculty member of
NYU Abu Dhabi New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD, ) is a degree-granting portal campus of New York University, established as a private liberal arts college in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Together with the main sites in New York and Shanghai, the por ...
(NYUAD) and the NYU Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW). He was the former Dean of Science, and the director of the NYU Center for Genomics and Systems Biology in New York (2010-2012) and Abu Dhabi (2012-2017). From 2022 to 2025, he was the director of 19 Washington Square North, the academic space of NYUAD in New York City Purugganan is a leading authority on plant
molecular evolution Molecular evolution describes how Heredity, inherited DNA and/or RNA change over evolutionary time, and the consequences of this for proteins and other components of Cell (biology), cells and organisms. Molecular evolution is the basis of phylogen ...
and genomics. His major work has focused on the study of
domestication Domestication is a multi-generational Mutualism (biology), mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a st ...
and evolution of crop species (including Asian and African
rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
,
date palms ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, ...
,
barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
,
Brassica oleracea ''Brassica oleracea'', also known as wild cabbage in its uncultivated form, is a plant of the family Brassicaceae. The species originated from feral populations of related plants in the Eastern Mediterranean, where it was most likely first cultiv ...
and
maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...
). He was a member of the board of trustees of the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is an American philanthropic nonprofit organization. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., president and chief executive officer of General Motors. The Sloan Foundation makes grants to support origina ...
(2013-2025), and served as the US representative to the Council of Scientists of the
Human Frontier Science Program } The International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) is a non-profit organization, based in Strasbourg, France, that funds basic research in life sciences. The organization implements the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) and ...
(2013-2017) and the Biological Sciences Advisory Committee for the US National Science Foundation (2014-2017). In 2018, he was appointed as co-chair of the Carnegie-Mellon University Presidential Advisory Board on Science, and in 2021 became the first Scientist-In-Residence at the
Asian Institute of Management The Asian Institute of Management (AIM) is a highly acclaimed management school and research institution located in Makati in The Philippines. Established in partnership with Harvard Business School,, AIM Historical Highlights. in 1968, it is ...
.


Scientific career

Purugganan obtained his undergraduate degree in chemistry in 1985 from the
University of the Philippines Diliman The University of the Philippines Diliman (also called UPD; ), also referred to as UP Diliman, is a State university and college (Philippines), public, coeducational, Research university, research university located in Diliman, Quezon City, Ph ...
. After finishing his undergraduate work he moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and studied at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
, where he obtained an MA in Chemistry (1986) in the laboratory of Jacqueline Barton. In 1993 he graduated with a Ph.D. in Botany (minor in Global Policy) from the
University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
, where he studied at the laboratory of Susan R. Wessler. During his Ph.D. he studied the effects of
transposable element A transposable element (TE), also transposon, or jumping gene, is a type of mobile genetic element, a nucleic acid sequence in DNA that can change its position within a genome. The discovery of mobile genetic elements earned Barbara McClinto ...
"jumping genes" on the evolution of gene structures and showed that
regulatory genes In genetics, a regulator gene, regulator, or regulatory gene is a gene involved in controlling the expression of one or more other genes. Regulatory sequences, which encode regulatory genes, are often at the five prime end (5') to the start si ...
evolve quite rapidly at the molecular level. Upon completion of his Ph.D. he was awarded an
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is an American philanthropic nonprofit organization. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., president and chief executive officer of General Motors. The Sloan Foundation makes grants to support origina ...
molecular evolution fellowship at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, he joined the faculty of
North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...
, where in 2005 he was named the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor. He was instrumental in promoting the use of the model plant
Arabidopsis thaliana ''Arabidopsis thaliana'', the thale cress, mouse-ear cress or arabidopsis, is a small plant from the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and Africa. Commonly found along the shoulders of roads and in disturbed land, it is generally ...
to study evolution, quantitative genetics and ecology, publishing some of the first studies of DNA sequence diversity and the genomic mapping of natural phenotype variation in this species. In 2006, he joined the faculty of
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, where he was initially appointed as the Dorothy Schiff Professor of Genomics (2006 - 2017) and in 2016 was named a Julius Silver, Roslyn S. Silver, and Enid Silver Winslow Professor (also known as Silver Professor). His work since joining the NYU faculty has focused on the study of the evolution of domesticated species, particularly
rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
and
date palms ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, ...
, as well as the evolutionary genomics and
systems biology Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological system ...
of plant environmental adaptation. As the New York University Dean of Science (2012-2019), Purugganan oversaw an increase in the NYU science faculty by 20%, and the establishment of several new programs, including the Center for Quantum Phenomena, the Laboratory of Molecular Nanoscience, the joint NYU-Max Planck Center for Language, Music and Emotion, and the NYU Chemical Biology Initiative. He also completed the renovation of ~160,000 square feet of research space for science in the NYU downtown Manhattan campus, including the new facilities for the entire Department of Physics, the extensive renovation of neural science and psychology space (including the Center for Brain Imaging, a new computational neuroscience suite, and new space for Social Psychology), and new computational chemistry and nanoscience facilities in the Department of Chemistry. This period also led to close collaborative ties and joint faculty hires between NYU and the
New York Genome Center The New York Genome Center (NYGC) is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic research institution in New York, New York. It serves as a multi-institutional collaborative hub focused on the advancement of genomic science and its application t ...
and the Simons Foundation
Flatiron Institute The Flatiron Institute is an American internal research division of the Simons Foundation, launched in 2016. The mission of the Flatiron Institute is to advance scientific research through computational methods, including data analysis, theor ...
. With the establishment of NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, Purugganan helped in faculty hiring, and the planning and development of joint Ph.D. programs and research centers between NYU global campuses. His tenure as NYU Dean of Science saw a steady increase in the Times Higher Education rankings of NYU in the physical sciences (from 72nd place in 2014 to 41st in 2019) and life sciences (from 54th place in 2015 to 28th place in 2019). Purugganan has been on the editorial boards of several journals, including
Molecular Biology and Evolution ''Molecular Biology and Evolution'' (''MBE'') is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. It publishes work in the intersection of molecular bi ...
,
Trends in Plant Science ''Trends in Plant Science'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed in: *Science Citation Index Expanded *Scopus *Chemical Abstracts * Embase *MEDLINE According ...
, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, Molecular Ecology, and Genome Biology and Evolution. Purugganan also serves on the international scientific advisory boards of the Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics in Barcelona, the Philippine Genome Center, the US Compositae Genome Project, the Norwegian Aqua Genome Project, and the Genome Canada Sunflower Project. He is listed in the miscellaneous crew credits of the award-winning 2008 feature-length film
Sita Sings the Blues ''Sita Sings the Blues'' is a 2008 American animated musical romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley. It intersperses events from the ''Ramayana''; light-hearted but knowledgeable disc ...
as a genetic engineer, and served on the Board of Directors of Imagine Science Films. The film Son of Monarchs was partly filmed in his laboratory, and he served as science adviser for the film The Trees. Purugganan has contributed to the book ''Evolution: The Extended Synthesis'' (Edited by
Massimo Pigliucci Massimo Pigliucci (; born January 16, 1964) is an American philosopher and biologist who is professor of philosophy at the City College of New York, former co-host of the '' Rationally Speaking Podcast'', and former editor in chief for the online ...
and Gerd B. Müller, 2010). Purugganan led the scientific team that did genetic research on
Judean date palm The Judean date palm is a date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') grown in Judea. It is not clear whether there was ever a single distinct Judean cultivar, but dates grown in the region have had distinctive reputations for thousands of years, and the ...
s germinated from seeds which were about 2,000 years old.


Journalism

As an undergraduate at the
University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...
in the early 1980s, Purugganan was the features editor for the student newspaper
The Philippine Collegian The ''Philippine Collegian'', also known as ''Kulê'' (), is an alternative news outlet and the official student publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Established in 1922, the Collegian is commonly associated with the natio ...
. In the wake of the assassination of Philippine opposition leader
Benigno Aquino Jr. Benigno "Ninoy" Simeón Aquino Jr., (, ; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac (1963–1967). Aquino was the husband ...
in 1983, he helped lead the initial news coverage in the
Philippine Collegian The ''Philippine Collegian'', also known as ''Kulê'' (), is an alternative news outlet and the official student publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Established in 1922, the Collegian is commonly associated with the natio ...
documenting the events that eventually led to the downfall of the
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
dictatorship. After leaving the Collegian, he continued to be active in journalism, working as a news stringer for
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
,
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
and the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. Purugganan in 1984 was offered a position as a foreign correspondent for the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
Manila Bureau, but had to decline as he still had to complete his university studies.EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT, vol. 12 pp. 3 –4 (2010), DOI: 10.1111/j.1525-142X.2009.00385.x He also wrote on politics and economics for various Philippine newsmagazines. In 1984 he was threatened with a libel suit by then Philippine Prime Minister
Cesar Virata Cesar Enrique Aguinaldo Virata (born December 12, 1930) is a Filipino former statesman and businessman who was the fourth Prime Minister of the Philippines from 1981 to 1986. He is currently serving as the corporate vice chairman of the Ri ...
, a Marcos ally, for publishing a widely circulated interview in the politically influential
Mr & Ms Special Edition ''Mr. & Ms. Special Edition'' was a weekly opposition tabloid magazine published from 1983 to 1986 that played a pivotal role in bringing about the downfall of the regime of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Background ''Mr. & Ms. Special Ed ...
in which Virata was quoted as saying "Filipinos never had it so good." Said in the middle of a severe economic crisis and widening poverty, Virata and his quote were harshly criticized by numerous opinion makers as an example of the disconnect between the Marcos government and ordinary Filipinos. Since 2011, he has written occasional essays for
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
, and
The Philippine Star ''The Philippine Star'' (self-styled ''The Philippine STAR'') is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines and the flagship brand of the Philstar Media Group. First published on July 28, 1986, by veteran journalists Betty Go-Belmonte, ...
,
GMA News Online GMA Network Inc., commonly known as GMA, is a Philippine media company based in Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. GMA is primarily involved in radio and television broadcasting, with subsidiaries dealing in various media-related ...
, and
Rappler Rappler (portmanteau of the words "rap" and "ripples") is a Mass media in the Philippines, Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and convicted cyberlibelist ...
in the Philippines.


Honors and awards

*Visiting Fellow,
All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...
, University of Oxford (2025) *Member,
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
(elected 2024) *Astor Visiting Lecturer, University of Oxford (2024) *Corresponding Member,
National Academy of Science and Technology The National Academy of Science and Technology (''abbreviated as ''NAST PHL) is the highest recognition and scientific advisory body of the Philippines under the Department of Science and Technology (Philippines), Department of Science and Techn ...
of the Philippines (elected 2019) *Fellow, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (2019) *Global Professorial Chair, University of Bath, UK (2017) *Khalifa International Date Palm Award (2015) *Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow (2011) *Ayala Foundation USA/PhilDev Foundation Excellence in Science and Technology (2011) *
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
(2006–2007) * Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (elected 2005) *NC State Alumni Outstanding Faculty Research Award (2003) *
Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...
Prize (2003) *Alfred Sloan Young Investigator Award (1997–2002)


Personal life

Purugganan is married to Alessandra Pena, a New Yorker with Spanish and Dominican roots who works as a consultant to UN organizations, international NGOs and foundations. They live in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
.


References


External links

* NYU faculty page for Michael Puruggana
Department of Biology
* Video lecture by Purugganan on ric
Rice Genomics Research for Better Human Life - Michael D. Purugganan, New York University
* (talk from October 2018) {{DEFAULTSORT:Purugganan, Michael 1963 births Living people People from Manila Extended evolutionary synthesis Filipino biologists University of the Philippines alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni North Carolina State University faculty New York University faculty Silver professors