Yukiko Yamashita wants to understand the mechanisms that underlie ‘immortality’ of the germline; in other words, the ability of the germline to pass genetic information from one generation to the next essentially in eternity – a foundation for the existence of life. Using Drosophila male germline, Yamashita and her team probe questions regarding how germline stem cells divide asymmetrically to generate one stem cell and one differentiating cell, and how the differentiating germ cells undergo a series of developmental processes to produce gametes (sperm cells) to allow transmission of the genome to the next generation.