Steven Gamblin’s research has provided critical insights into the fundamental mechanisms underlying cellular signalling and disease processes. His crystallographic studies on the influenza haemagglutinin (HA) from the 1918 strain explain the basis of the viruses’ specificity and the contribution of HA to the devastating mortality of this pandemic virus. Research on SET proteins, and the pRb tumour suppressor have offered powerful insights into how eukaryotic cells regulate transcription, while that on small GTPases and 14-3-3 proteins has shown how these key signalling pathways function.