The Inamori Foundation has announced that Leroy Hood, affiliate professor of bioengineering, immunology and computer science, will receive the 2002 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology. The award recognizes Hood’s outstanding achievements in biotechnology and medical technology and his contributions to improving the human condition.

Hood is being honored for his work on four automated instruments for sequencing and synthesizing DNA and proteins. The four instruments provided the technological foundations for contemporary biology. In the 1970s, Hood developed an automatic protein sequencer that was 100 times more sensitive than previous instruments. He also developed the first automated fluorescence DNA sequencer. This instrument made the human genome project possible.

The Inamori Foundation created the Kyoto Prize after its leadership consulted with the Nobel Foundation of Sweden. The Inamori Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established in 1984 by Kazuo Inamori, founder and chair emeritus of Kyocera Corporation. The Foundation reflects Inamori’s belief that people are called to strive for the greater good of all humankind, and that science requires new philosophical paradigms to manage the consequences of technological achievements.

Each year the Foundation gives prizes in Advanced Technology, Basic Sciences, and Arts & Philosophy. Kyoto Prizes have been awarded to 57 individuals from 12 countries. Their professions include science, engineering, research, architecture, sculpture, and film directing.

The Kyoto Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal, and a cash gift of 50 million yen (approximately $410,000). In addition to attending award ceremonies Nov. 10 in Japan, Hood and two other 2002 Kyoto Prize recipients will speak in California in early March 2003 at the second annual Kyoto Laureate Symposium at the University of San Diego.

A former department chair at the UW medical school, Hood is now the president and director of the Institute for Systems Biology.