REVISED

Do we need a yeast course today? I think there are three strong reasons to continue the yeast course in the future. The first is that yeast has turned out to be the model for trying out new genomic techniques. When people have a new technology, the first organism they try it on is yeast, even if they aren't really interested in yeast, because it's easy to work with in the lab and has so many technical advantages over other organisms. I think the current group of teachers are doing a great job of teaching yeast technology. Whenever a new technique comes out, single-cell RNA for example, looking at RNA in single cells or any new microscopic technology, people test it out in yeast. That should be a component of the course. So many people from different disciplines will want to take the yeast course of the future.

Gerald Fink, geneticist, changed the field of molecular yeast biology. He is a professor of genetics at MIT, a founding member of both the Whitehead Institute and the American Cancer Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1981). After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University, he was a part of the Cornell faculty for fifteen years and also served as president of the Genetics Society of America.

In 1976, Fink’s lab succeeded in performing yeast transformation. Gerald Fink currently researches baker's yeast and explores critical pathways in cell growth and metabolism; applications include cancer research and the development of new anti-fungal drugs. He also directs a plant research group heralded for new insights into root growth and salt metabolism.

Although Fink grew up on Long Island, it was not until he attended the 1966 Symposium that he visited Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In 1970, he began teaching the CSHL course on yeast molecular biology and continued doing so for 17 years. In 1999, he received the first honorary doctorate awarded by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.