UW Inspirational Innovators
Ben Hall Links
  • Genome Sciences biography
  • Department of Biology biography
  • How the UW helped defeat Hepatitis B
  • A Triumph of Biotechnology
  • Ben Hall's current research
  • Benjamin Hall Interdisciplinary
    Research Building
University of Washington Inspirational Innovators
You are a part of a community of innovators. All over the three UW campuses — Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma — students and faculty are discovering timely solutions to the world’s most complex problems and enriching the lives of people throughout our community. The culture at the UW is one of innovation, collaboration and discovery, which have had a transformational impact on people worldwide.

Ben Hall


Photo: Benjamin D. Hall

VIDEO

Watch a seven-minute video (20MB) on Ben Hall's career and research at the UW. Go!

  • Developed a vaccine for Hepatitis B
  • First UW Inventor of the Year (2004)
  • Special Interest: Rhododendron evolution

 

Through his groundbreaking work in genetics and medicine, Benjamin D. Hall has improved the lives of millions worldwide. A UW faculty member since 1963, Dr. Hall is perhaps best known for developing a method to produce genetically engineered proteins in yeast. This discovery led to a long-sought advance in public health: development of a vaccine against the hepatitis B virus, a major cause of lethal diseases, including liver cancer.

 

For more than four decades, Dr. Hall has been an inspiration to his students and colleagues. Patents on Dr. Hall's inventions are some of the earliest examples of commercial licensing of technology developed through UW research. Their income continues to support UW graduate students and faculty research through the Royalty Research Fund.

 

Selected Career Highlights

  • Education: B.A., University of Kansas, 1954
    Ph.D., Harvard University, 1958
  • Joined the University of Washington faculty, 1963.
  • Pioneering work in yeast genetics in the 1980s led to two important discoveries — a method for producing genetically engineered proteins, such as human insulin; and a specific invention for making the vaccine against human hepatitis B virus, a blood-borne infectious agent causing liver disease.
  • Licensing income from Dr. Hall’s patents has supported many UW graduate students and aided faculty research through the Royalty Research Fund.
  • Dr. Hall was named the UW's first Inventor of the Year in 2004. (See Online News article)
  • In 2005 Dr. Hall and his wife established two endowed fellowships for graduate students in biology and genome sciences. (See Columns article)
  • Dr. Hall is currently working to better understand speciation and evolution in genus Rhododendron.
  • In recognition of his accomplishments, on Nov. 16, 2006, the Board of Regents approved renaming the Research and Technology Building to the Benjamin Hall Interdisciplinary Research Building. (See Columns article)
Inspiration