They bought the place, a converted schoolhouse, when his wife, Lori Lander, who is an artist, pointed out that it had a basketball court on the top floor — it could be a kind of neighborhood hangout, so the Landers would always know where their three children were.

After his morning workout, he sometimes goes to a local bakery where he can work quietly. He arrives at the Broad between 8 and 10 a.m. In the fall, he teaches introductory biology to a class of 700 M.I.T. students on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. He often meets with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the afternoon to discuss their work.

Then he has his administrative duties and his meetings with philanthropists, trying to raise more money. He also spends 20 percent of his time in yet another role, as co-chairman of President Obama’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, which deals with topics like influenza vaccines, health information technology, science education and energy policy.

In the evening, around 6:30 or 7, he has dinner with his family. His wife cooks — Dr. Lander loves to cook but says he just does not have time.

He also reads — fiction, nonfiction, New Yorker articles — but has no patience with poor writing.

“I am very eclectic in my reading, but it has to be really well written,” he said. “That’s a huge barrier.”

On weekends he and his wife try to get to New York for the theater, another of his passions.

And he marvels at how his life has turned out. “I feel like it’s so incredibly lucky to end up here,” he said. “I could not have planned this. What if I hadn’t met David Botstein? What if I hadn’t gone to a meeting where the human genome was discussed? I have no idea. This is as random as it gets.

“It’s a very weird career.”