Uri Alon is a Systems Biologists at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He was trained as a physicist, but got hooked by the challenge of understanding the design principles of cells. His lab studies “biological networks and circuits, and more recently, also principles of human interactions, using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, aiming to uncover general underlying principles that govern their functioning and evolution” www.weizmann.ac.il/mcb/UriAlon/homepage. He did pioneering work in discovering network motifs, and was awarded, among others, the Overton Prize by the International Society for Computation Biology (2004) and the HFSP Nakasone Award (2014). He is a member of EMBO. Apart from his scientific credentials, Uri Alon is well known for his songs, TED talk and publications on the culture of science. Taking a leaf out of the book of improvisation theatre, he has been an inspiration to many on nurturing and supporting the next generation of scientists.