Revolutionary techniques in genetics are only beginning to generate actual products, but they have already created a boom in promised medical advances, new business opportunities, and lively ethical debates. To assess where this field is headed in the coming decades, 21stC assembled a set of experts for a Biotechnology Forum, held in conjunction with BIO '98, the Biotechnology Industry Organization's annual convention, which was held in New York City in June 1998. In this issue's Special Feature, our moderator and three biomedical researchers recombine their own perspectives