Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System 19:343 (2014)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2014 – Do something that you enjoy!

Dear Editor, Lindau is a small dozy town on an island in Lake Constance which is connected with the rest of Bavaria by a bridge. But once a year, this picturesque town gets visitors from all over the word, including many successful and highly decorated scientists. The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings were founded there in 1951 and laid the cornerstone for the annual meetings that would become unique. The initial idea was a peaceful international exchange of ideas between scientists in a Germany that was marked by the horror of the Second Wold War. More than 60 years later, at the 64th Lindau Nobel Meeting from June 29 to July 4, 2014, about 40 Nobel Laureates met with around 600 young scientists to pass their experience to the next generation and share their knowledge and insights. The talks and discussions ranged from topics such as global health to the latest findings in cancer and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) research to future challenges in immunology. One of the most impressive talks was given by the 89 year-old Nobel laureate Oliver Smithies, whose central theme was “Where Do Ideas Come From?”. Together with Mario Capecchi and Sir Martin Evans, Smithies was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2007 “for the discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells”. His work led to vital techniques such as gel electrophoresis, gene targeting, and knockout mice. Talking about the 1952 paper that arose from his PhD thesis, he said in typically self-deprecating

terms: “Nobody ever quoted it, nobody ever uses the [described] method and I [also] never used the method; so: what’s the point of it?” Smithies answered the question briefly but to the point: “I enjoyed doing it, and I learned to do good science! It’s the secret of life, you might say, of scientific life certainly: Do something that you enjoy, critically for your enjoyment and future.” During his presentation Smithies showed pictures of an apparatus in his former laboratory which he put together from junk. He told that it was labeled with the letters NBGBOKFO by his colleagues; Smithies deciphers for the audience: “No Bloody Good, But OK For Oliver”. This machine was the apparatus which was later used for homologous recombination and which nobody expected would reform molecular biology. Listening to these amusing stories from an outstanding but modest man with a burning enthusiastic passion for science, many people in the audience must have thought that this is the kind of scientist they would like to be. Attending The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting was an exceptional and inspiring experience in an informal environment. I want to thank The Peripheral Nerve Society for making that possible for me in 2014. Sincerely, Mark Stettner Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany

Address correspondence to: Mark Stettner MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Moorenstr. 5, Bdg. 13.53.01.56, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. Tel: +49-211-81-16792; Fax: +49-211-81-18485; E-mail: [email protected] © 2015 Peripheral Nerve Society

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