Richard Gibbs (Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute)

A geneticists who is among the scientists who placed the entire human genetic code in proper order, unveiling the blueprint for life, will give a public lecture in Roanoke Thursday.

Richard Gibbs directs the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine, which was one of three U.S. academic institutions to place the human genetic code in order.

Gibbs is the latest guests to take the lecture podium as part of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute’s Distinguished Visiting Scholars Series.

He is expected to talk about how people’s individual genomes can be sequenced on an individual basis, and how the cost of doing that is rapidly declining, said Michael Friedlander, executive director of the research institute.

“He will address what we can do to use this information to make health and lifestyle decisions that can affect our heart health, cancer risk and risk for other diseases,” Friedlander said.

“He is leading modern medicine into the age of cancer diagnosis, autism and developmental disabilities with the powerful new generation of tools of modern genomics and computation of which he is a world leader in developing,” Friedlander said.

The lecture is Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the institute. A public reception will precede the lecture at 4:30 p.m.