Big Bad Bill is sweet William now.

Abstract

Recently, special symposia were held in honor of Bill DeGrado at UCSF and the American Chemical Society's national meeting in San Francisco to celebrate his 60th birthday. More important than dignifying his age, the symposia celebrated Bill's scientific contributions to a diverse set of disciplines and his role as an outstanding mentor to those who have trained in his lab. Bill's work is truly interdisciplinary having made significant impact in drug discovery, peptide chemistry, protein design, folding, structure and function, as well as membrane biophysics. Hope I didn't miss any! For me, his insight into protein structure is most impressive. Legend has it that Bill can just look at a primary sequence and tell you how it'll fold. Rosetta schmosetta-who needs it when you got Bill! With age comes many things, and for Bill, perhaps the most cherished may be a growing collection of mentees who have gone on to establish their own labs in industry, government and academia. The symposia consisted of two full days of talks given by Bill's former graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, collaborators and friends. Inside this issue, you will find a collection of reviews and original articles contributed by some of the folks who made the symposia very special indeed. I include a photograph from the first day of the event taken outside Bill's lab at UCSF. The photo reflects the upbeat nature of the event. Happiness pervades after enjoying an outstanding day of science, spending some time with each other and with Bill. The number of people who traveled from all over the world to attend this event was impressive. It was testament to how we all feel about Bill, his science, and how he has supported all of us throughout his career, which is still going strong. On occasion, people ask me how Bill was to work for. We have all heard horror stories about bad labs and bad advisors. My time in Bill's lab was arguably some of the best of my life. He motivates by inspiration and true curiosity, making the science downright fun. I remember sitting on the floor of Bill's office building CPK models of coiled coils with him; he was teaching me “knobs into holes” packing by physically touching the interaction. So, in addition to be being a great scientist, he is a patient teacher, see Figure 2. Beyond his outstanding attributes in the lab, Bill is a good human being. He'd give you the shirt off his back if you asked, he loves a good party, not bad on the guitar, better at tennis and loves to cook (his smoked BBQ is outstanding). I, and I would guess many of his protégées, try to emulate Bill in how we run our own labs and professional lives. This, I think, will be his true legacy. Best regards, Joel Schneider