Professor Marvin H. Caruthers is a distinguished American Biochemist who pioneered the chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides. Approximately 30 years ago, the methodologies for synthesizing DNA that are widely used by people across the world were developed in his laboratory. His laboratory has also pioneered the synthesis of many new nucleic acid analogues that have found applications in the nucleic acid diagnostic and therapeutic areas. Prof. Caruthers is one of the co-founders of ‘Amgen’ and ‘Applied Biosystems’ and recently was a co-founder of Array BioPharma and miRagen Therapeutics. He is the recipient of The Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute, The National Academy of Sciences Award, The Prelog Medal, The Economists Award in Biotechnology for his Contributions in automating the synthesis of DNA, and The US National Medal of Science for 2006, the nation’s highest distinction honouring scientific achievement.