Herbert Boyer 101

Hats off to Herbert Boyer for winning the prestigious Perkin Medal (C&EN, Sept. 10, page 26). Boyer's Quote of the Week, "The key is coming to work every day knowing that you're trying to do something to make people's lives a little better," is inspirational, to say the least. I would like to pass along Boyer's reply when asked for the secret of Genentech's success on its 20th anniversary in 1996: "I've always thought that naivet?? has a great deal to do with the success of any venture. Whatever you want to do, if you overanalyze it, start looking at all the pluses and all the minuses, you might never start."

Administrators of granting agencies should take stock of this because researchers in various disciplines are more than ever expected in their grant applications, proposed networks, or centers of excellence to provide elements of innovation and commercialization plans besides meeting a multitude of other criteria. That all pieces of the puzzle should be in place before funding can be considered is an unrealistic expectation. In fact, this sort of approach or strategy can be regarded as more of an impediment than a facilitator to innovate or progress.

It would be "swell" if Boyer would consider providing an "HB 101" guideline or top 10 list on success in innovation (vis-à-vis his classical HB101 Escherichia coli strain), that would save many of us from the undue or otiose processes that are otherwise in place.

Peter C. K. Lau
Montreal