The Saccharomyces Genome Database - A History of Ideas and Accomplishments, 1994-2026

The Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD) is one of the longest-running and most consequential biological databases in the world. Founded in the early 1990s at Stanford University under the visionary leadership of David Botstein and developed under the long-term technical direction of J. Michael Cherry, SGD has served for more than three decades not only as the authoritative knowledge center for the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but also as the source for much of the fundamentals of eukaryotic biology. This history traces the arc of a remarkable intellectual and scientific project: beginning with the challenge of building the very first integrated eukaryotic genome database and evolving across thirty years into a global knowledge hub for genetics, functional genomics, and human disease research. The history is organized chronologically, with each section highlighting the central ideas, technical developments, and concrete accomplishments of that period.