Early indications: I became interested in the genetics of cereal grains when I was 11 years old. My father was a registered seed grower in Manitoba and I was able to compare varieties that were rust-susceptible and rust-resistant. That interest led me into research in the Rust Research Laboratory of Agriculture Canada in Winnipeg when I was a second-year undergraduate student. I expected to work in a very practical area of applied research when I started out. I soon realized that applied research required basic knowledge and I switched to basic investigations. Much later, I was able to apply my knowledge to practical problems in genetic diseases.
Pivotal paper: The purification of the calcium ATPase of skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum was my first independent study. The first purification of a P-type ATPase allowed me to begin investigations of the mechanism of ion transport. It also opened the door to the ...
