{{Infobox scientist | name = Gerald Joyce | image = Gerald Joyce.jpg | alt = Gerald Joyce standing on the Salk Institute campus | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956}} | birth_place = Kansas, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | ethnicity = | field = | work_institutions = Salk Institute for Biological Studies<br> The Scripps Research Institute | alma_mater = University of Chicago<br>University of California, San Diego | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | prizes = | religion = | footnotes = | spouse = Nancy McTigue | signature = | website = {{URL|http://www.salk.edu/scientist/gerald-joyce/}} }}

'''Gerald Francis "Jerry" Joyce''' (born 1956) is an American physician who is the president and a 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.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Lincoln | first1 = T. A. | last2 = Joyce | first2 = G. F. | authorlink2 = Gerald Joyce| doi = 10.1126/science.1167856 | title = Self-Sustained Replication of an RNA Enzyme | journal = Science | volume = 323 | issue = 5918 | pages = 1229–1232 | year = 2009 | pmid = 19131595| pmc =2652413 | bibcode = 2009Sci...323.1229L }}</ref><ref>Wilson da Silva, [http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/3325 "Life-like evolution in a test tube"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402222646/http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/3325 |date=2012-04-02 }}, Cosmos Magazine Online</ref><ref>[https://www.salk.edu/news-release/salk-institute-names-gerald-joyce-senior-vice-president-and-chief-science-officer/, “Salk Institute names Gerald Joyce senior vice president and chief science officer”]</ref> In 2026, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

== Biography == Joyce was born in Kansas and grew up in Chicago, where he first became interested in science.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Gerald Joyce—An organizing force |url=https://inside.salk.edu/winter-2022/gerald-joyce-an-organizing-force/ |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Inside Salk |language=en-US}}</ref> 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."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Mackin-Solomon |first=Ashley |date=2023-03-01 |title='Science is a blast': Meet Gerald Joyce, Salk Institute's new president |url=https://www.delmartimes.net/lifestyle/story/2023-03-01/science-is-a-blast-gerald-joyce-is-named-salk-institutes-new-president |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Del Mar Times |language=en-US}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />

Joyce decided to pursue both medical and doctoral degrees, so that his future did not hinge on a successful career as a Darwinian engineer.<ref name=":0" /> As of 2022, Joyce says he still keeps his medical license up-to-date, despite working primarily as a researcher at Salk Institute.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=":1" />

== 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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Robbins |first=Gary |date=2023-02-26 |title=Salk Institute chooses renowned scientist as new president to oversee historic expansion |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-26/salk-institute-president-gerald-joyce |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

== Career and research == When he first joined the Salk Institute in 1985, Joyce worked under prominent RNA world researcher Leslie Orgel.<ref name=":2" />

He was a professor at The Scripps Research Institute until 2017 and served as their dean of the faculty from 2006 to 2011,<ref>"Joyce, Gerald" in [http://vivo.scripps.edu/display/JoyceGerald VIVO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510132017/http://vivo.scripps.edu/display/JoyceGerald |date=2018-05-10 }}</ref> during which time he was instrumental in founding a second campus in Jupiter, Florida.<ref>"Welcome to Jupiter, Scripps Florida"[http://www.jupiter.fl.us/BioTech/upload/BioBrochure-TriFold_LR.pdf pamphlet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531115329/http://www.jupiter.fl.us/BioTech/upload/BioBrochure-TriFold_LR.pdf |date=2012-05-31 }}</ref> Joyce has served as the chair of the JASON advisory group, which he joined in 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cell-symposia-rna-2014.com/conference-speakers/bio-joyce.asp|title=Gerald Joyce|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326033005/http://www.cell-symposia-rna-2014.com/conference-speakers/bio-joyce.asp|archivedate=2015-03-26}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lincoln |first1=Tracey A. |last2=Joyce |first2=Gerald F. |date=2009-02-27 |title=Self-sustained Replication of an RNA Enzyme |journal=Science |volume=323 |issue=5918 |pages=1229–1232 |doi=10.1126/science.1167856 |issn=0036-8075 |pmc=2652413 |pmid=19131595|bibcode=2009Sci...323.1229L }}</ref>

==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<ref>[http://issol.org/medals-and-honors/ "ISSOL Medals and Honors"]</ref> *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 *Royal Irish Academy honorary member, 2024<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ria.ie/2025/05/22/28-new-members-admitted-to-the-royal-irish-academy/ |title=28 new members admitted to the Royal Irish Academy |date=22 May 2025 |website=ria.ie |publisher=Royal Irish Academy |access-date=2025-05-25}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060614075303/http://www.scripps.edu/mb/joyce/joyce.html Summary of Joyce's research] *[http://www.scripps.edu/research/faculty.php?rec_id=1160 Gerald Joyce profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109121517/http://www.scripps.edu/research/faculty.php?rec_id=1160 |date=2011-01-09 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070706122315/http://www.issol.org/Urey05.html Joyce receiving the Urey Medal] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060902022352/http://www.scripps.edu/mb/joyce/ The Joyce Laboratory] at [http://www.scripps.edu/ The Scripps Research Institute] *[http://www.salk.edu/scientist/gerald-joyce/ Gerald Joyce at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies]

{{Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Gerald}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:American biochemists Category:Academics from San Diego Category:Scientists from San Diego Category:University of California, San Diego alumni Category:Scripps Research faculty Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Members of JASON (advisory group) Category:Honorary members of the Royal Irish Academy Category:Novartis people Category:Salk Institute for Biological Studies people Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society