email witkowsk@cshl.edu, phone (516) 367-8398, fax (516) 367-5106

A key element in scientific research is the exchange of ideas and data with one’s colleagues throughout the world. Promoting such exchange is a major part of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s mission and it does so through meetings and publications.

My primary responsibilities as director of the Banbury Center are to organize and host discussion-style meetings for small groups of invited participants. Each year, the Banbury Center holds about 20 such meetings, which focus on topics in molecular biology and genetics, human genetics, neurobiology, and science policy. The titles of recent meetings include “Signal Transduction in Endothelial Cells,” “Computational Analysis of DNA Sequences,” “The Genetics of Parkinson’s Disease,” and “Human Cognition and How It Fails.”

An important objective of the Banbury Center’s program is to provide a basic grounding in human genetics for nonscientists. This part of the program, which is carried out in partnership with CSHL’s DNA Learning Center, has provided genetics education to science journalists, congressional staff, bioethicists, theologians, judges, and teachers.

One of my major interests is the history of genetics and molecular biology. These sciences came to the fore in the second half of the 20th century, and are clearly going to dominate at least the first half of the 21st century. This is a period of tremendously exciting biological research, and we are in the fortunate position of being able to study the ideas and discoveries while the discoverers are here to help us. Writing is an important activity for me, and I am coauthor with James Watson of the textbook Recombinant DNA, and an editor of the books Illuminating Life and Inspiring Science. I am also editor-in-chief of Trends in Biochemical Sciences.