Michael Ashburner is Professor of Biology at the University of Cambridge, and Joint Head of the European Bioinformatics Institute. He led the sequencing of the Drosophila fruit fly genome, and played a key role in the international Human Genome Project.

Recent articles

Scientific research using stem cells may prevent disease and save lives. But concerns over intellectual property rights and the use of human embryos may block its advance. Can science survive if it becomes privately owned?

Money and power, as well as the passion for knowledge, drove the race to map the human genome. One of the world’s leading geneticists sees lessons for the public realm beyond the laboratory.