Dr. Christopher E. Mason is a geneticist and computational biologist and the WorldQuant Professor of Genomics and Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is also a professor of physiology and biophysics and director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction.

Mason’s research combines genomics, computational biology and space medicine to investigate human disease, biological adaptation and the effects of spaceflight on the human body. His laboratory develops new methods in genomics, epigenomics and metagenomics and works with NASA and other organizations to study astronauts and establish the biological foundations needed for long-duration human spaceflight.

He has served as a principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous NASA missions and projects, including the NASA Twins Study, and helped develop methods used to sequence DNA aboard the International Space Station. Mason is the author of The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds and The Age of Prediction.