Bruce Stillman, 2003-08-14

Item — Box: AV04, miniDV: CSHL1166

Staff Only

Oral History | Bruce Stillman

Scope and Contents

Bruce Stillman, molecular biologist and biochemist, is interviewed by Mila Pollock on August 14, 2003, at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, in Cold Spring Harbor, New York.

Bruce Stillman discusses the following in his interview: Scene 1. On becoming Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory -- Scene 2. On following Jim Watson as Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory -- Scene 3. Concerns about being Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory -- Scene 4. Transition from scientist to administrator -- Scene 5. Meeting Jim Watson -- Scene 6. Lessons learned from Jim Watson -- Scene 7. Jim Watson, writer -- Scene 8. "Lucky Jim" -- Scene 9. Stories about Jim Watson -- Scene 10. Competition in science -- Scene 11. Becoming a scientist -- Scene 12. Advice to young scientists.

Dates

Creation: 2003-08-14

Creator

Stillman, Bruce (Interviewee, Person)
Pollock, Ludmila (Interviewer, Person)
Clark, Clare (Transcriber, Person)
Viteri, Carlos (Videographer, Person)
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Library and Archives (Publisher, Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online: https://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/. Select tapes have been digitized thanks to support from CLIR Recordings at Risk Grant awarded in 2021, these tapes are available for research online via our Oral History Website and in person at CSHL Archives. Please contact CSHL Archives archives@cshl.edu with any questions regarding availability.

Biographical / Historical

Molecular biologist and biochemist, Bruce Stillman, received his Ph.D. from the John Curtain School of Medical Research at the Australian National University in 1979. His long affiliation with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory began in 1979 when he arrived as a postdoctoral fellow. He became a member of the scientific staff (1981), Senior Scientist (1985), Assistant Director (1990), Director and Chief Executive Officer (1994), and President (2003). He is currently President and CEO of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Oliver R. Grace Professor. Stillman has also been Director of the Cancer Center at CSHL since 1992. His research concerns DNA replication, yeast genetics, cell cycle and chromatin structure. His work has elucidated the reason why DNA sequences and silenced states of chromatin are pass through generations. His lab is concerned with understanding the mechanisms and regulation of DNA replication in eukaryotic cells, a process that ensures accurate duplication and inheritance of genetic material from one cell generation to the next. Bruce Stillman has received numerous awards and honors and research awards. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (1993), and as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2000).