I always remember Rich Roberts. He was quite an elegant person in many—physically elegant in many ways and so you’d sort of see him curled up on a couch holding his cigarette in a particular way that he had. And sitting back you know he was a little bit like the overseer of the interactions but always the one with the crucial comment and slightly detached because of this particular physical presence that he had just to—quite an amazing character from that point of view, but you know very pleasant, really nice to interact with, very helpful.

Merilyn Sleigh is a pharmacologist, molecular biologist and dean in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of New South Wales. After completing her Ph.D. at the University of Sydney in pharmacology and another PhD in molecular biology at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), she came to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to work under Joe Sambrook as a postdoctoral fellow researching the protein production of SV40. She returned to CSIRO, establishing one of the first laboratories in Australia using genetic engineering approaches to study influenza virus structure, evolution and gene regulation. She has become involved in developing the biotechnological industry in Australia. Sleigh is founding director of the Australian Biotechnology Association and is currently Chief Executive of EvoGenix, a start-up biotechnology company located in Australia.