Reflections on the purinergic hypothesis: the Burnstock Festschrift in the millennial year

Few have made such an impact as Geoffrey Burnstock in their scientific field. As the originator of the purinergic hypothesis, Burnstock has been central to the development of our understanding of the P2 receptor family and of the role of extracellular ATP in cell-to-cell signalling. In this millennial year, Burnstock has been awarded the Queen’s medal from The Royal Society and Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Gastroenterology Association. Thus, it was my privilege to join Alan North in organising and producing the Burnstock Festschrift (Purines and the Autonomic Nervous System; from controversy to the clinic, in [J. Auton. Nerv. Syst. Vol. 81 (2000)]) to honour not only Geoffrey Burnstock’s successes in this millennial year, but a lifetime of achievements spanning some 40 years in the field of purine signalling.