--- title: TIME 100: Watch George Church's Gala Toast description: Notable Harvard geneticist, biological engineer and author George Church delivered a toast at the TIME 100 Gala canonical: https://time.com/4753294/george-church-time-100-gala/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T02:35:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T08:47:25.813Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch George Church's Moving Toast at the 2017 TIME 100 Gala og:description: The notable Harvard geneticist delivered a toast og:url: https://time.com/4753294/george-church-time-100-gala/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb28b0599de661819/6988caa9fb4eac285c891b28/0147-time-100-gala-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Landon Nordeman for TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch George Church's Moving Toast at the 2017 TIME 100 Gala twitter:description: The notable Harvard geneticist delivered a toast twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb28b0599de661819/6988caa9fb4eac285c891b28/0147-time-100-gala-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch George Church's Moving Toast at the 2017 TIME 100 Gala > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=bc406da9-19f0-4316-b4b0-5a2c39ad5d78&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: George Church Toasts The 2017 Time 100 Gala [Watch (HLS stream): George Church Toasts The 2017 Time 100 Gala](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pAf2J5JH.m3u8) (2:55)  _Published 2017-04-26. George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, gives a toast at the 2017 Time 100 Gala._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 26, 2017 2:35 AM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 26, 2017 2:35 AM UTC Notable Harvard geneticist, biological engineer and author [George Church](http://time.com/collection-post/4742749/george-church/) paid tribute to people who volunteer for medical research during a toast at the [TIME 100 Gala](http://time.com/4753230/time-100-gala-red-carpet-photos-2017/) Tuesday. “There are all kinds of issues they have with time, pain and risk. I know firsthand how hard this can be,” he said before joking about how his students use him for research. “Apparently it’s quite ethical to do.” Considered one the world’s leading experts in synthetic biology, Church has regularly made headlines for his ideas on evolution and appearances with [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/4750131/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-impersonator/) (who penned a piece on Church for TIME 100). Church has often advocated for planned evolution, and has used gene editing tools such as CRISPR to show the potential for what people can do with genes — he considers bringing back extinct species and reversing real future possibilities. In his toast, Church also gave a shoutout to scientists who showed up to the March for Science last Saturday. “I was truly amazed by that day,” he said. ## Transcript Thank you all, is really, you're all amazing thank you for everything that you do. I'm sure you are all here to celebrate DNA, April 26th is DNA day. [ LAUGH ] And three days ago was Earth Day, Saturday. March for science, yeah thanks. [ APPLAUSE ] I love it, yeah. [ APPLAUSE ] And I was truly amazed by that day when we had self proclaimed nerds and their friends really making speeches that they don't normally make. Actually getting interrupted by cheers. This never happens usually to scientists. And so first thanks is to thank you to the entire community of science enthusiasts. You're all welcome, we are not an exclusive group. We want you all to participate. [ LAUGH ] And it's extremely important. And my second thank you today at the TIME 100 is to my family, my lab team members, and my mentors. In particular Creighton Bedford and Sung Ho Kim, Wally Gilbert, Gale Martin. Tracking me through my years, through my ups and downs. From the mud flats of Florida to here, to through dyslexia and narcolepsy. [ LAUGH ] Repeating ninth grade and flunking out of graduate school, that's quite a challenge, to do that. [ LAUGH ] Almost everybody gets through graduate school, right? [ LAUGH ] And so I think we could hopefully all remember constantly to pay it forward To embrace, not to stigmatize our neural behavioral diversity. And finally, I would like to thank people worldwide who volunteer for medical research. There are all kinds of issues they have with time commitment, with pain, with risk. And really and privacy on it, and really who wants to be in the possible group anyway? Right? [ LAUGH ] Yeah. I know first hand how had this would be, is not ideal to do experiments on your students, but apparently is quit ethical for them to do it to you. And so I am guinea pig number one. And so I will often be sitting in my office minding my own business and they will have me roll up my sleeve. Sometimes when people are visiting me to their surprise to see drawing blood or skin biopsies or so forth. So, if you ever come visit, and you are all welcome to visit, be prepared. So, here's a toast to volunteers and medical research everywhere. Thank you. 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