# Francis Collins on Reddit (u/NIHDirector)

Part of Scientists on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/scientists-on-reddit/francis-collins

Francis Collins: Physician and geneticist, former NIH director.

- Reddit account: [u/NIHDirector](https://www.reddit.com/user/NIHDirector/) (AMA only)
- How we know it's theirs: [The 2018 r/science AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/8dn0jo/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/science (32)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2016 to 2018
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Collins

## Moments

### u/NIHDirector in r/science, Apr 20, 2018 · Behind the scenes

Replying to a redditor:

> In hindsight, do people associated with program have any regret about the coining of the term "junk DNA" to describe regions that weren't immediately related to protein coding genes?

> Yes! That was an unfortunate term, and I hope I was not one of the ones who used it . . . at least not very often. We are learning more every day about the 98 percent of the genome that does not code for protein but determines how genes turn on and off in specific tissues during development and after environmental exposures. That’s incredibly important information.  It certainly is not junk.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/8dn0jo/comment/dxp2bwa/ · 24 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/NIHDirector in r/science, Apr 25, 2016 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> I recently had my DNA sequenced through 23andMe. They said that a percentage of my genome couldn't be sequenced because it was "too unique to definitively match" to any specific data they had. What could be so different about my genome?

> If you look closely enough, all of our genomes are unique unless we have an identical twin. Each of us has about 60 new mutations that were not present in our parents and may never have been present in anyone until us. Some of those variations involve duplications of large segments of DNA, which may be difficult to map back to the reference sequence. So, don’t assume that there is something seriously awry with your genome. We are all in the same boat.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/4gcwwy/comment/d2gowcg/ · 17 points as of Nov 7, 2026