It is hard to believe, but the field of pharmacogenetics (PGx) — the subject of this month's joint Nature Reviews Genetics and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery focus — is almost as old as molecular genetics itself. As Urs Meyer describes in his Timeline article (page 669), the birth of PGx came only 4 years after Watson and Crick's classic Nature paper.

However, it is only now that PGx is starting to blossom as a field. As illustrated in Allen Roses' review (page 645), the exponential increase in the number of available SNPs could allow whole-genome association studies to identify genes that underlie variation in drug response. The first studies that use transgenic animal models to examine the mechanistic basis of human PGx variation are now in progress and, as Steve Liggett discusses on page 657, their use will probably grow. Andrew Webster and his co-authors highlight (page 663) the broader societal implications of PGx; as do the diverse contributors to our Viewpoint article (page 676) on the ethical dilemmas that are posed by the future integration of PGx testing into society.

Conservation genetics is also looking to the future. Rob De Salle and George Amato's review on page 702 highlights the enthusiastic incorporation of genomic technologies and the importance of planning for tomorrow's conservation problems. This last point was thrown into stark relief, as the world's first DNA bank for endangered species — the 'Frozen Ark' — was announced in July. That month also saw the passing of a man whose influence on genetics was so great that without him, PGx and conservation genetics would probably not exist in their current forms. Together, with the rest of the genetics community, we pay our respects to Francis Crick: a scientist and, by all accounts, a man of the highest order.