Well the only-- I mean the most, almost painful memory I have of a Cold Spring Harbor meeting was the meeting on virology, 1962. I gave a talk on Rous sarcoma virus, I had done a study with fluorescent anti-bodies Rous sarcoma virus. And a French scientist who will remain unnamed got up and absolutely destroyed me. And I was just a young post-doc, and I didn't know how to reply. Eventually Harry Rubin and some other people got up and defended me, and so... But I remember that. So the meetings were very, how should I say, very much alive, and people would readily ask questions, even if they appeared aggressive, overly aggressive. And I think that was actually a good feature of the Cold Spring Harbor meetings. It was this direct exchange, this openness, this honesty and even aggressiveness. It was good.

Peter K. Vogt works at Scripps Research, La Jolla, California. His fundamental studies on oncogenic avian retroviruses led to the identification of oncogenes in human cells. His work also includes the discovery of MYC, the most important driver in human cancer, and he made pioneering contributions to the understanding of PI3Ks, a family of critical cancer targets.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Vogt remains actively engaged in research on the biology and genetics of cancer.