Husband and wife Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins will join the Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Texas as co-directors of cancer biology at the institute and at the Methodist Cancer Center. They were the first researchers to be recruited through Texas' Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, which was established by state voters in 2007. Copeland and Jenkins have identified genes associated with leukemia, lymphoma, melanoma, pancreatic, lung, breast, and prostate cancers.
The couple previously spent five years at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology, and Research. Additionally, they have worked at the Jackson Laboratory, and also the National Cancer Institute-Frederick, where Copeland headed the molecular genetics of oncogenesis and Jenkins headed the molecular genetics of development.
Copeland holds a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Utah and Jenkins holds a PhD in molecular and cellular biology from Indiana University.