But both the original research and the later applications require funding or they never leave the laboratory. He went to the Wellcome Trust which gave him massive support and, so far, more than 200 million to start his study. Many illnesses, including mental illness, heart disease and cancer, have a strong genetic component which increase the individual's vulnerability to these conditions. Sulston's study will make it much easier to develop new drugs to prevent these illnesses. But it is not just those holding the purse strings or those in the laboratories who exert power in the world of science.
Research needs to be read, and so the editors of key journals have much power.
Nature, and its editor Philip Campbell, for instance has a huge impact both on the media and the scientific community ensuring his place on Power 300. Lewis Wolpert is Professor of Biology at University College, London.