The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), located in Walnut Creek, California, was created in 1997 to unite the expertise and resources in genome mapping, DNA sequencing, technology development, and information sciences pioneered at the DOE genome centers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
Franks worked at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Life Sciences Division, as a Genomic Research Scientist from 2002–2005, where, along with Raf Podowski, and Connie Myers, he developed the technology behind SeeqPod.
Rarita taught physics at Brooklyn College for 32 years before he became a visiting scientist in the theory group at LBNL.