James L. German, a pioneer in early human genetic research turned 90.

In the early 1960s, J. German established the non-synchronous human DNA replication pattern in metaphases of cultured lymphocytes and fibroblasts. This could be used to distinguish several chromosomes of similar morphology. From 1965 on over the next 30 years, he and his coworkers systematically studied Bloom's syndrome in depth, cumulating in the identification in 1995 of the BLM gene as encoding a DNA helicase. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.