Distinguished scientist and UCSB professor Dr. Craig Montell sits down with Anirvan Ghosh to discuss his journey from growing up poor in New York and then in a Bay Area commune to becoming a successful microbiologist and geneticist. They discuss how research on fruit flies revolutionized genetics, and the work Dr. Montell is doing to engineer sterile mosquitoes to reduce the prevalence of pathogenic mosquitoes that lead to millions of deaths each year. They also discuss the cuts to federal research grants that threaten America's scientific leadership.