Peter J. Bentley: I grew up in the days of "home computers"—the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Amiga and so on. My father was a mechanical engineer. This environment coupled with a slightly geeky personality meant I was building robots, electronic circuits and writing software by the time I was 9 years old. I quickly learned that there must be something very special about living organisms, because making good robots is difficult. So my interests broadened into the biological sciences and beyond. By the time I achieved my PhD it was clear that computers were being used in all the sciences. A computer scientist with a broad range of interests can work with just about any other scientist out there (and also with artists too). So although most of my research is centered around "biological technology," over the years I've collaborated with geneticists, evolutionary biologists, ecologists, developmental biologists, cell biologists, immunobiologists, materials scientists, physicists, chemists, artists, musicians, architects...and so on. I can't claim to be an expert in all these areas, but I do know how to find out the answers if I don't know them.

Christine Jun