Jackson Laboratory hires administrator for Farmington research center

The genetic research institute spearheading Connecticut’s new bioscience initiative in Farmington announced the hiring Thursday of a site administrator.

The Jackson Laboratory hired Yu-Hui Rogers, a genomics researcher and experienced scientific administrator, to lead all aspects of research support at the institute’s planned new facility at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

Rogers served most recently as vice president of core technology development and services for the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md. Before her promotion in 2008 to this executive leadership role, she served for six years as scientific director of the Joint Technology Center and director of new technology development at the Venter Institute.  

Rogers’ research expertise includes having helped develop a new process for large-scale DNA sequencing that enabled the first complete sequencing of the human genome. She also established an automated re-sequencing pipeline to identify victims of the 2001 World Trade Center attack via forensic analysis of mitochondrial DNA.

“Our site director will play a key role in establishing systems that support world-class biomedical discovery,” said Charles E. Hewett, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief operating officer at The Jackson Laboratory. “Yu-Hui understands the science and she is an experienced administrator and a great communicator. She is a perfect fit for this position.”

Rogers will begin working in temporary leased space on the health center campus.

The General Assembly and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy approved $291 million in funding last October to help The Jackson Laboratory construct a 173,000-square-foot facility and to subsidize research efforts there for the next decade.

Construction on the research facility is set to begin in January.