Bob Hanner, the Associate Director for the Canadian Barcode of Life Network, is working on enabling non-scientists to identify the other species we come across in every day life. By building a tool that would read the unique genetic codes of specimens, we would be able to identify other species in real time. By democratizing the understanding of biodiversity, Hanner argues that we will become more engaged in our environments, as well as being able to treat diseases more effectively.
This talk was from the Seeing What's There session at Pop!Tech. The other speaker in this session was Graham Flint. The question and answer period for both talks is included in this program.
Robert (Bob) Hanner is the Associate Director for the Canadian Barcode of Life Network and is on faculty at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Bob is also Chair of the Database Working Group for the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL), an international initiative to implement DNA barcoding for species identification.
Bob was formerly the Scientific Program Director of the Coriell Cell Repositories at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research where he demonstrated DNA Barcoding to be an essential quality assurance tool for the Institute's nonhuman biomaterial collections, which are widely used in genetic research. Prior to that, Bob created the Ambrose Monell Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (as featured in the New York Times and Natural History magazine). He has also served as President of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) and is currently an editor for Cell Preservation Technology, the official journal of ISBER. He has published numerous articles on the value, compilation and use of biological materials for molecular, genetic, and taxonomic research.
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