Kary Mullis, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, spoke to veterinary students taking part in the Students Training in Advanced Research program on June 26. Mullis treated the audience to a lively account of the invention of the polymerase chain reaction, which has revolutionized biology by allowing rapid copying and amplification of DNA. The Nobel Prize is an experience he highly recommends, but he advised the audience to try to sign on the "assigned to" rather than the "invented by" lines when signing patent documents. Mullis predicted that within five years, it will be possible to fully sequence an individual's genome quickly and cheaply. He also outlined his latest idea, as founder of the biotech company Altermune — speeding up the immune system's response to threats that it has not seen before, such as avian influenza. "Isn't science great? It beats working," he concluded.