Professional Tributes (By Joseph Taulane)

Many wonderful comments have been published about Murray Goodman and his science since his untimely passing in June 2004. But working at his side for nearly thirty years gave me insight into this extraordinary man that others—those who only heard him present a lecture or perhaps shared a glass of wine with him at a symposium reception—might have only glimpsed. As I write, I am sitting at the table in the office Murray occupied for so many years at the University of California, San Diego, writing on a yellow pad with a No. 2 pencil as he always did. In putting my thoughts to paper, I thank Lila Gierasch and Charles Deber for inviting me to be Co-Editor of this special Peptide Science issue, and convey a heartfelt thank you to its many contributors.

As a peptide scientist, Murray's interests were broad and eclectic. The name Murray Goodman is synonymous with terms and phrases such as “retro-inverso, Integrated Approach, NCA (N-carboxyanhydride), and TFE (trifluoroethanol),” along with “Do the right thing,” and the still reverberating “What's doing?” Murray began many of his lectures with a slide depicting “The Integrated Approach: Synthesis, NMR, Conformational Analyses, and Biological Assays.” Our goal in preparing this issue was to invite a similarly broad sampling of research by Murray's career-long associates and colleagues, some of whom are publishing for the first time in Peptide Science. Further, we sought to arrange the contributed manuscripts into themes that collectively reflect his integrated approach. As you read this very special issue, I hope you will enjoy the diversity of content these authors have brought to you, and recognize in it the true legacy of Murray's enormous impact....