(Nature) – The 50th anniversary of a landmark biosafety conference is an opportunity to ensure its spirit lives on in today’s scientists.

In 2008, Nature published a six-part essay series called Meetings that Changed the World. One of our choices was the International Congress on Recombinant DNA Molecules, held in February 1975 at the Asilomar Conference Center near Monterey, California — and known, ever since, as the Asilomar conference. This meeting brought a temporary moratorium to an end and established the basis for rules to ensure that research on genetically modified organisms minimizes risks. (Read More)