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Sabine Cordes is currently Senior Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, where she studies the genes involved in craniofacial and neuronal development and psychiatric disorders. Although now renowned as an excellent mouse geneticist and neurobiologist, she is actually a biochemist by training. Indeed, she started her career at the Department of Biochemistry at Berkeley, University of California, studying ethylene-induced gene expression during tomato fruit ripening with Robert L. Fischer. She then became fascinated by brain development and decided to join Greg Barsh’s lab at Stanford University to work specifically on hindbrain segmentation. Her interest in psychiatric disorders was, in her own words, ‘accidental’. In this interview, Sabine recounts the interesting steps that took her from the study of chemistry and molecules to that of genes and mouse genetics, to researching on neurodevelopment and mood disorders. She also shares with us her personal forward-looking view of biomedical science, based on her own experience and on the impact of new advances that are revolutionising our understanding of cell biology and neurobiology.

Rick Morimoto Director of the Rice Institute of Biomedical Research and the Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology at Northwestern University, is renowned for his insights into the heat shock response and its role in protein-folding diseases and aging. As part of Disease Models & Mechanisms’ (DMM’s) special series on protein-folding diseases, Rick recalls the karmic events that influenced his career and discusses the importance of invertebrate model systems to reveal the basic mechanisms underlying aging and protein misfolding, as well as efforts to discover therapies to reverse these biological processes.

Martin Raff is an Emeritus Professor at University College London (UCL), where he worked for more than 30 years on various aspects of immunology, cell biology and neurobiology until his retirement in 2002. In this interview, he recounts the thrill of his first few years in science, and discusses his current fascination with the fast-moving field of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Professor Steve O’Rahilly is one of the UK’s most renowned clinical researchers. He made his reputation by combining clinical practice with scientific and clinical studies focused on understanding the causes and consequences of obesity and insulin resistance. Here, he talks about his research philosophy, and his wider role as a spokesman for obesity research.

Katalin Susztak is currently Associate Professor at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she conducts research on chronic and diabetic kidney disease. After her medical studies, her science career began by investigating ion-channel regulation and function at Semmelweis University, in Budapest. She then moved to the United States, where, thanks to the fortunate encounter with her future mentor, Erwin Böttinger, she worked as a research fellow in the Renal Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Since then, she has successfully kept pursuing her career in the field of kidney research. The innovative approach of Katalin’s lab is to combine efficient high-throughput analysis of patient samples with mechanistic approaches in animal models, in order to advance our understanding of kidney disease mechanisms and identify new therapeutic targets. In this interview, Katalin travels through her career, from her first steps into biophysics, to her residency and finally to her established position as a kidney-specialist scientist, discussing exciting aspects of her work and current challenges in her field.

Monica Justice, a recently appointed Senior Editor on Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM), is Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). She leads several research teams that are merging mouse modeling with clinical genetics to elicit new information on disease mechanisms and to develop potential treatment strategies, with a focus on hematopoietic cancers and genetic syndromes. In this interview, Monica discusses what led her to focus on molecular, developmental and translational biology; her current work and future goals; and the reality of creating a balance between a demanding research role and life beyond the lab.

Anne O’Garra is Head of the Division of Immunoregulation at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Mill Hill, London. In this interview, she recounts the excitement of her early career discoveries on cytokines and T-cell differentiation, and discusses progress on tuberculosis research by her group and multiple collaborators.

Joan Brugge has been an innovator in cancer research since the beginning of her career, when she isolated the viral and cellular forms of the Src protein as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado. In this interview, she describes the exciting sequence of events that opened up the field during this time, and discusses why a career in cancer research is still such an inspiring path to follow today.

Irv Weissman has pursued many areas of biomedical research throughout his prolific career as a medical doctor and researcher. In this interview, he recalls his early years studying immunology in mice, and discusses the more recent challenges he has faced when attempting to develop stem-cell-based therapies with industry.

Professor Frances Balkwill of Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary, University of London, is driven by two passions: translating basic cancer research into new patient therapies and encouraging science literacy in children through a range of communication-based activities. In this interview, she discusses current challenges in translational cancer research and how the two arms of her career inspire one another.

Ruslan Medzhitov was inspired to become a researcher in immunology on reading a 1989 paper written by Charles Janeway that outlined a new theory for immune system activation. Just a few years later, having achieved a postdoc position in Janeway’s lab, he carried out the experiments that confirmed the theory, re-igniting interest in the field of innate immunity and launching his own career. Here, he discusses this early discovery and explains what he considers the three most important questions facing immunologists today.

Nancy Hopkins is famous for pushing the envelope: both in her pursuit to understand cancer genetics and in exposing professional disparities between men and women. Here, she discusses influential moments that have defined her career path, and her concerns for the future.

Sir Paul Nurse is a recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on one of the key regulators of the cell cycle, CDK (cyclin-dependent kinase). In this interview with Jim Smith, he discusses his choice of model organism, scientific leadership and the early influences on his career.

Sir John Gurdon used nuclear transplantation and cloning to show that the nucleus of a differentiated somatic cell retains the totipotency necessary to form a whole organism. Here, he discusses model organisms, the future implications for his early work on medicine and his thoughts about scientific publishing.

Mario Capecchi recently won the Nobel Prize for contributions to genetics that have catapulted the mouse to the status of the most valuable of all animal models. He has a personal story that is as rich and interesting as his science. Here, he discusses the journey that led him to gene targeting and his vision for the future.

Gerard Evan is a founding editor of DMM, whose work uncovered a crucial role for the tumor suppressor Myc in cellular apoptosis. Here, he talks about the future of cancer therapy and the responsibility of academic science in tackling these complex questions.