Goli Samimia,b, Laurent Ozbunb, Michael E. Johnsonc, Samuel C. Mokc and Michael J. Birrerb Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA Cell and Cancer Biology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA Laboratory of Gynecologic Oncology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115,...

The recent award of a Nobel Prize to Sydney Brenner crowns an astonishingly distinguished scientific career. He must have come very close to winning it several times in the past. A colleague described him as 'a visionary who sees further into the future than anyone'. This is borne out by his decision--made 40 years ago--to study a one-millimetre long worm in detail to define the biochemical and...