Nancy A. Moran, Dec. 6 2010.

  First of all, I wish to express my feelings of being deeply honored, and also deeply humbled, on this occasion. Past recipients of the International Prize for Biology include some of the great scientists of our times. In evolutionary biology and in some other areas of basic research in biology, it is perhaps the most prominent international prize that can be conferred. Furthermore, I know that there are other distinguished biologists who have made immense scientific contributions and who would be deserving recipients of this prize.

  So I accept this award with great pleasure but also with humility and with gratitude towards all of those who have made this possible. First, I thank Their Majesties, the Emperor and Empress. Their presence today demonstrates how much they value science and recognize its importance to human society. I also thank the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Through this annual Prize, they bring attention and distinction to the scientific enterprise and to fundamental research in the biological sciences in particular. The prize and today’s ceremony demonstrate the respected role of basic research within Japan.

  I also wish to recognize and thank some of the people who have shaped my own development as a scientist. Unlike many researchers, I did not grow up in a household that placed much emphasis on scientific or academic activities. My father ran a movie theater, and my mother raised eight children, with me in the middle. But both of my parents respected and supported my choices in many ways. I loved insects and plants even as a small girl, and these odd interests were recognized and accepted by my parents: my father caught living tarantulas for me to observe, while my mother took us for walks through the woods and creeks near our home in Texas, and allowed me to keep turtles, ducks, parakeets, cats, dogs, and a horse, at different times during my childhood. My real love for research started as an undergraduate at the University of Texas, where I encountered scientists for the first time and was lucky enough to interact with a lively group of graduate students. Among them were Nancy Burley and Joan Strassmann, both of whom provided important examples and advice and both of whom went on to become well recognized scientists. At Texas, professors Dan Otte and Eric Pianka were also major influences on me, and I was inspired by their passion for biology and their insistence on challenging students with the biggest questions and the most rigorous materials. And Larry Gilbert, through his summer field course, converted me to the study of insects.

  As a new graduate student at University of Michigan, I immediately encountered the intellectual excitement of evolutionary biology, through interactions first with John Maynard Smith and Richard Alexander, and soon after with William Hamilton. The latter two became my doctoral advisors, and both shaped my thinking in fundamental ways, partly in agreement and partly in opposition. They understood and studied the remarkable range of phenotypic adaptations that could result from natural selection. This planted in me an interest in understanding the limits of selection, and the potential for natural selection to push evolving lineages down dead-end paths of specialization. Both Dick and Bill were superb naturalists, with keen knowledge and perception of the natural world and with a passion for observing organisms in the wild. Both of them also emphasized the importance of addressing big questions, questions for which the answers would truly deepen our understanding of organisms and evolution. Bill’s developing focus on pathogens as forces affecting hosts kindled my interest in microbial associates of animals. And that led me to find and peruse Paul Buchner’s compendium of animal symbioses in the libraries at Michigan. However at that time, there were few tools for pursuing studies of microorganisms that cannot be grown in the laboratory.

  After starting a faculty position at the University of Arizona, I was fortunate to have a number of brilliant colleagues and friends in biology, too many to list individually. But a few stand out. For example, Elizabeth Bernays, Reginald Chapman, and Therese Markow provided models for scientific teamwork mentoring, and for how to combine research with a full life and broad interests. The University of Arizona itself gave me freedom and resources to pursue new topics, as I moved between fields, from evolutionary ecology into genomics of bacteria. The US National Science Foundation has consistently supported my work. This funding has allowed me to pursue unanticipated directions that have produced the most exciting results in the longer run.

  I am indebted to Paul Baumann, who was among the first to use molecular methods for the study of bacteria symbionts, and who was responsible for bringing me to this topic. I learned much from his deep knowledge of microbiology, his love of scientific exploration, his work ethic, and his rigorous standards. I was lucky to collaborate closely with him for a decade, during the 1990’s.

  The past decade has yielded surprising discoveries about the role of symbiosis in deep evolution and in the ongoing changes in populations and species, and it has been a joy to work in this field. A great deal of credit for my accomplishments goes to the wonderful students and postdoctoral researchers who have worked with me over the years. Most are now established as researchers or professors at their own institutions, and I am most proud of this legacy of talented, insightful, and independent researchers.

  The individual to whom I am most indebted and most grateful is my husband, Howard Ochman. His brilliance, vast knowledge of biology, and sense of humor have benefited me every day since we met. We have worked together for 13 years and I hope we can continue for a very long time in the future.  I also am grateful to my daughter, Claire, who has accommodated my interests and work and who has helped in various ways.

  I will end by again expressing my deepest thanks to Their Majesties for their presence today and to the JSPS for its support and its work to make this award possible.