Martin Clynes is Emeritus professor of Biotechnology at Dublin City University. He was founding Director of the National Cell and Tissue culture Centre (1987) and the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology (2000). Dr Clynes has edited books on Animal Cell Culture methods and on Drug Resistance in cancer and has over 250 peer-reviewed papers on aspects of cell culture, cancer research, diabetes research and biopharmaceutical production of recombinant proteins. He has had extensive collaborations with industry. In 2014 he was joint recipient of the nature senior lifetime award for scientific mentorship. Some would say that his obsession with cells over a period of 45 years is unhealthy, but he maintains that they are just good friends.