The highlights of biochemist S. Lawrence Zipursky’s 25-year-long career in neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles, are the surprises he’s unearthed along the way. Topping his list is one gene in particular, Dscam, which codes for tens of thousands of different protein products that may help give neurons distinct molecular signatures (p. 40). “I didn’t think that kind of recognition specificity existed in the nervous system,” he says. The son of a hematologist, Zipursky found his father’s passion for running a research lab contagious. “I think it caught my imagination,” he says. He went on to obtain a BA in chemistry and a PhD in molecular biology before studying brain circuitry as a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology. He enjoys playing tennis and kayaking in his free time.
Mary Beth Aberlin, new deputy editor of The Scientist, wasn’t at all seduced by physical organic chemistry while ...
