Gerald Francis "Jerry" Joyce (born 1956) is president and professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and was previously the director of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. He is best known for his work on in vitro evolution, for the discovery of the first DNA enzyme (deoxyribozyme), for his work in discovering potential RNA world ribozymes, and more in general for his work on the origin of life.

Biography 
Joyce was born in Kansas and grew up in Chicago, where he first became interested in science. His mother was a grade-school teacher, father was a business executive, and maternal grandfather was an Italian immigrant with a Ph.D. in engineering, whom Joyce credits for providing him with a "science gene." Inspired by novelist Thomas Pynchon, Joyce became curious about the natural processes that enable Darwinian Evolution and began to focus on biochemistry and molecular genetics in high school.

Joyce decided to pursue both medical and doctoral degrees, so that his future did not hinge on a successful career as a Darwinian engineer. As of 2022, Joyce says he still keeps his medical license up-to-date, despite working primarily as a researcher at Salk Institute.

Between graduating with his M.D. and Ph.D. in 1984 and launching his own research program in 1989, Joyce married his wife, psychiatrist Nancy McTigue, in the Salk Institute courtyard.

Education 
Joyce received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1978, then completed his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego in 1984. He was a postdoctoral fellow and senior research associate at the Salk Institute from 1985 to 1989, and joined the faculty at Scripps Research in 1989.   ed his postgraduate medical training at Mercy Hospital in San Diego in 1984, and his postdoctoral research training at the Salk Institute from 1985 to 1989.

Career and research 
When he first joined the Salk Institute in 1985, Joyce worked under prominent RNA world researcher Leslie Orgel.

He was a professor at The Scripps Research Institute until 2017 and served as their dean of the faculty from 2006 to 2011, during which time he was instrumental in founding a second campus in Jupiter, Florida. Joyce has served as the chair of the JASON advisory group, which he joined in 1996. Joyce also served as the institute director of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. In 2017, Joyce returned to the Salk Institute as a professor, where he then became chief science officer in 2022 and president in 2023.

In 2009, Joyce's lab was the first to produce a self-replicating in vitro system, capable of exponential growth and continuing evolution, composed entirely of RNA enzymes.

Awards
NAS Award in Molecular Biology, 1994
Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, 1995
JASON (advisory group), 1996
Herbert W. Dickerman Award, 1997
Hans Sigrist Prize, 1997
National Academy of Sciences Member, 2001
International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL) H. C. Urey Award, 2005
Dannie Heineman Prize, 2009
Stanley Miller Medal, 2010
American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member, 2012
National Academy of Medicine Member, 2014
Harvard Origins Prize, Harvard University, 2016
American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, 2017
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Foreign Member, 2019

References

External links
Summary of Joyce's research
Gerald Joyce profile 
Joyce receiving the Urey Medal
The Joyce Laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute
Gerald Joyce at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies

1956 births
Living people
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
American biochemists
People from San Diego
University of California, San Diego alumni
Scripps Research faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of JASON (advisory group)
Novartis people
Salk Institute for Biological Studies people
Members of the National Academy of Medicine