Reflections
Life in a Three-dimensional Grid
There have been two sharp demarcations in my life in science: the transition from fine arts to chemistry, which happened early in my career, and the move from New York to Stanford University, which initiated an ongoing collaboration with the physicist Harley McAdams. Both had a profound effect on the kinds of questions I posed and the means I used to arrive at answers. The outcome of these experiences, together with the extraordinary scientists I came to know along the way, was and is an abiding passion to fully understand a simple cell in all its complexity and beauty.Pioneering the Xenopus Oocyte and Egg Extract System
A Reflections article provides an opportunity to focus on key findings during a career from a personal and historical perspective. As a graduate student in the late 1960s at Berkeley, I was introduced to the Xenopus oocyte by John Gerhart, who shared his fascination with the work of John Gurdon, who had pointed out the unique and powerful features of the oocyte and egg, particularly the ability to microinject biochemically significant amounts of material into them while they carried out complex biological events.
