Back in Fashion

My research career began as a microbiologist, after DNA structure and gene function were discovered. During the first part of my career in the 1970s I witnessed the pioneering studies on recombinant DNA techniques and sequencing and the consequential possibilities of invaluable biotechnological and medical applications. By the 1980s the common view held that all the fundamentals of biology had already been discovered. As it was becoming easier to work with eukaryotes, it was our duty to move on to higher organisms to elucidate more complicated questions such as cell development and cancer. Moreover, the prevailing belief was that infectious diseases were under control owing to antibiotics. Microbiology therefore became a less fashionable and poorly funded discipline.

Nevertheless, some of us persisted in studying microbiology. This small community met at such Gordon Conferences as Bacterial Cell Surfaces, the Biology of Host-Parasite Interactions, and Mechanisms of Membrane Transport. The meetings generally brought out paradoxical results, passionate discussions, the exchange of advice and technical tools, and the establishment of new collaborations. We learned from skilled scientists how to choose and orient our own research themes. It was also an opportunity to appreciate recent scientific advancements. As the years went by, there were key discoveries in protein secretion, chaperones, transmembrane signaling, quorum sensing, sporulation, motility, chemotaxis, membrane protein structure, bacterial pathogenesis, drug resistance, and many other areas.

Meanwhile, infectious diseases were again recognized as a major threat to public health, owing to the emergence of new diseases associated with AIDS and the materialization of multiresistant forms of bacteria caused by the uncontrolled use of antibiotics in the food and health sectors. This situation stimulated the scientific community to search for new antimicrobial compounds. Simultaneously, the avalanche of genome sequences provided us with mountains of data yet to be interpreted. As a result bacterial genetics remains one of the most powerful approaches to discovering new functions.

Today we understand that biology in general is much more complex than we used to believe, and we expect new models and theories to arise sooner or later. GRC has played a major role in keeping microbiological discussions running in the background, and I have no doubt that the Gordon Research Conferences will resonate with the future battles of biology.