What is your assay for sister-chromatid cohesion?

Long hikes, for which my father took us, made me appreciate the wonderful nature that surrounded us in southern Germany. Nocturnal stargazing walks, together with popular science books that my aunt supplied, started my excitement for particle physics and the origin of the universe, a fashionable topic at the time. Unfortunately, our high school in Bad Windsheim did not offer a physics A-level course that year, so instead I enrolled for chemistry. The last half a year of the course was dedicated to biochemistry and raised another fascinating question, how does chemistry explain processes of life? A big question, but thus came my interest in the subject. I wanted to enrol for the biochemistry course at the University of Tübingen, which was highly praised but as highly oversubscribed. There was no rush, as it was at the height of the cold war. Joining the army was not the right response, so there were 2 years of civilian service for me to do instead, just the right waiting time to get a place in Tübingen. The course was designed for 6 years, leading to a Diploma in Biochemistry and Physiological Chemistry. This seems long by current ideas about university education, but I enjoyed every subject, from inorganic and physical chemistry, to botany and human anatomy. All of the subjects became important later, one way or the other, while doing research or listening to others’ research. I am therefore not in favour of shorter university degrees. We all expect to live and work for longer, so why the rush early in life when this is the best time to learn? The ability to take advantage of what Tübingen had to offer largely depended on the German university system’s commitment, at the time, to free education. I certainly don’t regret the diversions that courses in geology and music history provided. Another place that taught me a lot was an exchange year at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich. Six two-month placements in groups at the institute replaced some of the practical courses back in Tübingen. This was a great opportunity to get hands on experience with many techniques, and gave a fantastic flavour of what research and researchers are like. There were places for six students from Tübingen every semester, distributed in a raffle, so it was sheer luck I got one of these places.