Michael Rosbash

16th Horizons in Molecular Biology Michael Rosbash

History of Horizons. December 4th, 2003. The seminar room in the Gottingen Center for Molecular Biosciences was bustling with activity. Organizers darted in and out of the room, making sure everything was in order and as it should be. Speakers attempted to look through their talking points, whilst entertaining the many curiosities of the next generation gathered around them. The graduate students themselves, whispered to each other and waited apprehensively, with thinly veiled excitement, for the program to begin. There were just under a hundred eager minds crowded into that one room. Students and researchers; all brought together by a shared passion: a passion for science. This was the inaugural Horizons in Molecular Biology Conference: An International PhD Student Symposium! The conference has come a long way since then. Over the years, the number of participants grew steadily and increased in variety. Horizons now regularly attracts around three hundred participants from over thirty countries. The symposium has featured numerous renowned researchers, representing a wide range of fields in the life sciences. This exhaustive list also included several Nobel Laureates, namely: Professors Martin Chalfie, Sir John Walker, Ada Yonath, Thomas Südhof, Kurt Wüthrich, Carol Greider, Venki Ramakrishnan, Sir John Gurdon, Tim Hunt, and this year Michael Rosbash.