He started a drive to find genes involved in prostate cancer, set up programs to improve the teaching of science in public schools, decoded much of the genome of rice and helped start five companies. But for all his admirers, Dr. Hood has critics, who say he is better at starting things than at managing or finishing them. He moves from one project to another like a whirlwind, sometimes leaving those in the previous effort disenchanted. Rosetta Inpharmatics , a company Dr. Hood helped to found a few years ago, for instance, now has virtually no relationship with him. There is a trail of acrimony in most of these cases.
Systems biology is certainly hot now.
Dr. Brenner set up the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley a few years ago to do similar work. And despite Dr. Hood's complaints, universities are flocking to cross-disciplinary biology. Dr. Hood grew up in Montana, where his scientific prowess was apparent early. In high school, he was one of 40 finalists in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, for a geology project. As a senior he taught sophomore biology.