Laureation Address: Dr Eugene Koonin
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science
Laureation by Professor Malcolm White, School of Biology
Wednesday 2 July 2025 – afternoon ceremony
Vice-Chancellor, it is my privilege to present for the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, Dr Eugene Koonin.
Born in Moscow in 1956, Eugene Koonin displayed a passion for biology from his early years.
His mother worked in a library, which gave him access to the latest scientific literature. At the tender age of 14, he was inspired by the work of Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling on protein evolution and the concept of the molecular clock. Enrolling in Moscow State University, Koonin was attracted to the new field of virology, completing his PhD on viral RNA replication in 1983 and taking up a position in the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, where he became increasingly interested in the field of molecular evolution, which was being revolutionised by the availability of DNA sequences and genomics.
Eugene became aware of a new centre for computational biology known as the National Center for Biotechnology Information, or NCBI, in Bethesda, Maryland. He secured a position there and moved his family to the USA in 1991, just prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was an auspicious time to arrive at NCBI. Within five years, the first complete genome sequences were being published, providing a rich dataset for the nascent discipline of Comparative Genomics. As an early proponent, he developed crucial tools such as the COG database, which helped tremendously to make sense of the alphabet spaghetti of raw genomic data.
It is fitting that this ceremony brings together graduates in Biology and History, as Eugene Koonin leverages his encyclopaedic knowledge of biology and evolution to interpret vast genomic datasets and address questions as fundamental as the nature of the last universal cellular ancestor and the origins of life of this planet.
In recent years his insights have been instrumental in our understanding of CRISPR, an anti-viral defence system that is revolutionising our ability to re-write the genomes of any living thing – in a sense, to revise our genetic history and correct mistakes. Such power brings huge responsibility and raises fundamental ethical issues, but the potential to resolve once-incurable genetic conditions is already being realised.
Eugene Koonin views science as an intrinsic mode of experiencing the world, stating: “That is a way of living that is infinitely more interesting than anything else I can think of.” As one of our foremost evolutionary biologists, he makes the bold suggestion that Dobzhansky’s famous motto can be generalised to “Nothing in the world makes sense except in the light of evolution”.
Koonin has published more than 500 research papers and several books, and his work has been cited in close to 300,000 other academic publications, making him one of the most influential researchers in the field of molecular biology. Also, I may add from personal experience, he is one of the most generous, taking genuine delight in the discoveries of others.
Amongst many honours, Eugene Koonin was elected to the USA National Academy of Sciences in 2016 and National Academy of Medicine in 2022. Notably, he resigned from the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2022 in response to the invasion of Ukraine. And this year, he is a signatory of a letter protesting the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” currently underway in the USA. The parallels, he notes, are “surreal”.
Vice-Chancellor, in recognition of his outstanding contributions and leadership in science, I invite you to confer the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, on Dr Eugene Koonin.