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John C. Sanford

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John C. Sanford (born 1950) is an American plant geneticist, and an advocate of intelligent design and young earth creationism.

John C Sanford, Fall 2014

Biography

Academic career

Sanford graduated in 1976 from the University of Minnesota with a BSc in horticulture. He went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he received an MSc in 1978 and a PhD in 1980 in plant breeding/plant genetics. Although retiring in 1998, Sanford continues at Cornell University as a courtesy associate professor. He held an honorary Adjunct Associate Professor of Botany at Duke University. Sanford has published over 70 scientific publications.[1]

Inventions

At Cornell Sanford and colleagues developed the "Biolistic Particle Delivery System" or so-called "gene gun".[2][3][4] He is the co-inventor of the Pathogen-derived Resistance (PDR) process and the co-inventor of the genetic vaccination process. In 1998 he retired on the proceeds from the sale of his biotech companies, and continued at Cornell as a courtesy associate professor.

Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome

Sanford has argued for devolution in his book Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome (2005, 2008).[5][6]

In it, he claims that natural selection's being the cause of biological evolution (which he calls the primary axiom) "is essentially indefensible".[7]

His argument is as follows. The minimal rate of human mutation is estimated to be 100 new mutations per generation.[8] According to Sanford, Kimura's curve shows that most mutations have a near-neutral effect, and are furthermore slightly deleterious.[9]: 31  As such, they cause a genetic rust unstoppable by natural selection. Therefore, the main claim is that the rise of random genetic mutations is too unnoticeable to be affected by natural selection, yet harmful enough to cause the gradual extinction of any species through time.

An important corollary is that "beneficial mutations are so rare as to be outside of consideration."[9]: 23  Therefore, natural selection is considered too slow to allow evolution.[9]: 128 Additionally, the selective cost is considered too high to override genetic drift and noise.[9]: 57 

Mendel's Accountant

Sanford and colleagues developed the quantitative forward genetic modeling program Mendel's Accountant, publishing several papers on it and genetic entropy in non–peer-reviewed venues.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Based on this research, Sanford holds that the human genome is deteriorating, and therefore could not have evolved through a process of mutation and selection as specified by the modern evolutionary synthesis.

Intelligent design and creationism

Formerly an atheist[18] from the mid-1980s, Sanford has looked into theistic evolution (1985–late 1990s), Old Earth creationism (late 1990s), and Young Earth creationism (2000–present). An advocate of intelligent design, Sanford testified in 2005 in the Kansas evolution hearings on behalf of intelligent design, during which he denied the principle of common descent and "humbly offered... that we were created by a special creation, by God".

He stated that he believed the age of the Earth was "less than 100,000" years.[19] Sanford uses an analogy to illustrate evidence of design - that of a car versus a junkyard: "A car is complex, but so is a junkyard. However, a car is complex in a way that is very specific — which is why it works. It requires a host of very intelligent engineers to specify its complexity, so it is a functional whole."[20] Intelligent-design advocate William Dembski cites the accomplishments of Sanford as evidence of the scientific status of intelligent design, since Sanford is a specialist in genetic engineering and a Courtesy Associate Professor in Horticulture.

References

  1. ^ John C. Sanford, NY State Agricultural Experiment Station
  2. ^ Cornell Chronicle, May 14, 1987, page 3.Biologists invent gun for shooting cells with DNA
  3. ^ Sanford JC et al (1987) Delivery of substances into cells and tissues using a particle bombardment process. Journal of Particulate Science and Technology 5:27-37.
  4. ^ Klein, TM et al (1987) High-velocity microprojectiles for delivering nucleic acids into living cells. Nature 327:70-73.
  5. ^ Sanford, John C. (2005-10-25). Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome. Ivan Press. ISBN 978-1-59919-002-0.
  6. ^ Sanford, John C. (2008). Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome 3rd Ed. FMS Publications. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-9816316-0-8.
  7. ^ John C. Sanford (March 2008), Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome, Feed My Sheep Foundation, Incorporated, pp. vi–vii, ISBN 978-0-9816316-0-8
  8. ^ "Human mutation rate revealed: Next-generation sequencing provides the most accurate estimate to date". Nature. 27 August 2009. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
  9. ^ a b c d John C. Sanford (2005). Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome. Elim Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59919-002-0.
  10. ^ Sanford, J.C., Baumgardner, J., Brewer, W., Gibson, P., ReMine, W. (2007). Mendel's Accountant: a biologically realistic forward-time population genetics program. SCPE 8(2): 147-165. http://www.scpe.org.
  11. ^ Sanford, J.C., Baumgardner, J., Brewer, W., Gibson, P., ReMine, W. (2007). Using computer simulation to understand mutation accumulation dynamics and genetic load. In Shi et al. (Eds.), ICCS 2007, Part II, LNCS 4488 (pp.386-392), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
  12. ^ Sanford, John (2012). "A new look at an old virus: patterns of mutation accumulation in the human H1N1 influenza virus since 1918". Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling. doi:10.1186/1742-4682-9-42.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  13. ^ Sanford, John (Jul 2013). "Can Purifying Natural Selection Preserve Biological Information?". World Scientific. Biological Information: New Perspectives. doi:10.1142/9789814508728_0011.
  14. ^ Sanford, John (Jul 2013). "Using Numerical Simulation to Test the "Mutation-Count" Hypothesis". World Scientific. Biological Information: New Perspectives. doi:10.1142/9789814508728_0012.
  15. ^ Sanford, John (Jul 2013). "Can Synergistic Epistasis Halt Mutation Accumulation? Results from Numerical Simulation". World Scientific. Biological Information: New Perspectives. doi:10.1142/9789814508728_0013.
  16. ^ Sanford, John (Jul 2013). "Computational Evolution Experiments Reveal a Net Loss of Genetic Information Despite Selection". World Scientific. Biological Information: New Perspectives. doi:10.1142/9789814508728_0014.
  17. ^ Sanford, John (Jul 2013). "Information Loss: Potential for Accelerating Natural Genetic Attenuation of RNA Viruses". World Scientific. Biological Information: New Perspectives. doi:10.1142/9789814508728_0015.
  18. ^ Transcripts of the Kansas Evolution Hearings Talkorigins.org
  19. ^ Transcripts of the Kansas Evolution Hearings Talkorigins.org
  20. ^ Intelligent Design: Professors discuss Teaching the Controversial Subject Xiaowei Cathy Tang. Cornell Daily Sun, November 15, 2005
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