Many people have a difficult time figuring out what they want to do with their lives. But for Cecilia Moens, it was all in the genes. Moens' father, Peter, a biology professor at York, studies how germ cells are made. And while most other kids her age would have dreaded the idea of spending time away from school in a lab, she did just that, assisting her father in his research for several summers. For her, spending summertime working with bacteria was as natural as meiosis.

"It was an easy and obvious thing to do," says the 36-year-old geneticist [BSc '87]. Although Moens' interest in developmental biology evolved over time, she can pinpoint the moment where she was moved to pursue this particular field. In a high-school biology class, she watched a short film of a chick being born and was blown away by the process. "It is the most interesting question in life. How does life happen?"Trying to answer that question has motivated Moens to be one of the best in her field. In September 1999, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Maryland awarded her a five-year, $1-million grant to help fund her research. But her most notable honour came last April, when she, along with 60 other established researchers, who won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, were presented with their awards at the White House. Now Moens conducts her research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, sharing workspace with 15,000 zebra fish. She began working with the species at the University of Oregon, where the study of zebra fish genetics was born. "It was like going to Mecca," she says.

As for whether she thinks her findings might lead to cures for illnesses such as cancer, Moens remains modest, but optimistic. "I'm a basic scientist," she says. "But I would love to see my research have clinical value in the future."