Conversations in genetics. Vol. 2, No. 3: Talking with Ira Herskowitz.

Recorded on May 22, 2002, in Ira's office and laboratory suite at the University of California at San Francisco, Jasper Rine, Professor of Genetics, University of California at Berkeley, talks to Ira Herskowitz, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California at San Francisco. Herskowitz's contributions to genetics and cell biology are renowned for their insightfulness, elegance and simplicity. A major theme in his studies is elucidating how master genetic switches work. This led to his detection of positive controls of gene expression during lambda development, and genetic methods for revealing protein interactions. In yeast, he uncovered the genetic circuitry of cell type, the cassette model of silent gene transfer to expression sites, and silencing factors. The discovery of pheromone secretion signals, cyclin-kinase inhibitors, and regulators of cell-cycle expression, cell polarity and asymmetric protein distribution are invaluable models for understanding cell differentiation. Ira was a gifted and inspiring teacher and master communicator in word, image and musical parody. His honours include the Morgan and Mendel Medals in Genetics, the MacArthur and Rosensteil Awards, and election to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.