At Cornell Sanford and colleagues developed the "Biolistic Particle Delivery System" or so-called "gene gun". He is the co-inventor of the Pathogen-derived Resistance process and the co-inventor of the genetic vaccination process. In 1998 he retired on the proceeds from the sale of his biotech companies and continued at Cornell as a courtesy associate professor.
''Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome''
Sanford has argued for devolution in his book Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome. In it, he claims that natural selection's being the cause of biological evolution "is essentially indefensible". His argument is as follows. The minimal rate of human mutation is estimated to be 100 new mutations per generation. According to Sanford, Kimura's curve shows that most mutations have a near-neutral effect, and are furthermore slightly deleterious. As such, natural selection is unable to slow the accumulation of harmful mutations. Therefore, over time, fitness will decline and, if unchecked, extinction will ultimately result. An important corollary is that "beneficial mutations are so rare as to be outside of consideration." Therefore, natural selection is considered too slow to allow evolution.Additionally, the selective cost is considered too high to override genetic drift and noise. This idea is unsupported by available evidence. In laboratory experiments, viruses saturated with mutations do not go extinct. Sanford also misuses Kimura's mutation distribution; Kimura excludes beneficial mutations because they would have too large an effect, not an insignificant one. Sanford has refused to acknowledge this problem, even after being directly confronted with Kimura's own words. Further, Sanford's assertion that there are virtually no selectable beneficial mutations is contradicted by examples of exactly that, such as lactase persistence in humans, or tetherin antagonism in HIV-1 group M Vpu.
Mendel's Accountant
Sanford and colleagues developed the quantitative forward genetic modeling program called Mendel's Accountant, publishing several papers on it and genetic entropy in non–peer-reviewed venues. Mendel's Account tracks mutations as they accumulate in digital populations in a biologically realistic manner. Based on his research, Sanford holds that the human genome is deteriorating, and therefore could not have evolved through a process of mutation and selection as specified by the modern evolutionary synthesis.
Formerly, according his own account, an atheist from the mid-1980s, Sanford has looked into theistic evolution, Old Earth creation, and Young Earth creation. An advocate of intelligent design, Sanford testified in 2005 in the Kansas evolution hearings on behalf of intelligent design, during which he denied the principle of common descent and "humbly offered... that we were created by a special creation, by God". He stated that he believed the age of the Earth was "less than 100,000" years. Sanford uses an analogy to illustrate evidence of design — that of a car versus a junkyard: "A car is complex, but so is a junkyard. However, a car is complex in a way that is very specific — which is why it works. It requires a host of very intelligent engineers to specify its complexity, so it is a functional whole." Intelligent-design advocate William Dembski cites the accomplishments of Sanford as evidence of the scientific status of intelligent design, since Sanford is a specialist in genetic engineering and a Courtesy Associate Professor in Horticulture.
