Dr. Robert M. (Bob) Blumenthal is a Distinguished University Professor at The University of Toledo, in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and the Program in Bioinformatics. He started in science under the influence of his parents, Drs. Harold J. and Doris C. Blumenthal (a microbiologist focused on bacterial physiology and a biochemist focused on heme, respectively). After earning a B.A. in microbiology at Indiana University, working in the laboratory of Dr. Robert F. Ramaley, he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, in the microbiology laboratory of Dr. Frederick C. Neidhardt. This was followed by two postdoctoral fellowships, one at the University of British Columbia (biochemistry, Dr. Patrick P. Dennis) and the other at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (nucleic acid chemistry, Nobel laureate Dr. Richard J. Roberts). He has been at UT since 1981, and in addition to his interest in DNA methylation he also studies restriction-modification systems, bacterial global regulators such as Lrp, and the enzyme methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT). Dr. Blumenthal is a long-time collaborator of Dr. Xiaodong Cheng, whom he first met at Cold Spring Harbor. He also has to his credit one recorded rock song, released in 1968 as a 45 rpm record and currently available online.