Surveying the way viruses have been discovered in the past, I came to the conclusion that I could use my technology that I developed as a graduate student - DNA microarray technology - to create a chip that would simultaneously screen for all viruses ever discovered, and furthermore have the built-in capability of discovering new viruses.

I think my formative experiences were really in junior high, where at a typical public school we were doing little genetic experiments, very classic experiments.

Surveying the way viruses have been discovered in the past, I came to the conclusion that I could use my technology that I developed as a graduate student - DNA microarray technology - to create a chip that would simultaneously screen for all viruses ever discovered, and furthermore have the built-in capability of discovering new viruses.

Every important machine's got to have a big red button.

I'm really focused on my research almost 100 percent. That, and my family and kids.

I did my undergraduate work at the University of California when it was still affordable. But tuition keeps on rising.