The first series of Mendel Lectures was in 2003, when it was devoted to the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA. Since then, Brno has been visited by almost 100 scientists, including Nobel Prize winners. The lectures held in Mendel´s refectory of the Augustinian Abbey in Old Brno – the very place where Mendel, the founder of genetics, worked almost 200 years ago – are attended annually by almost one thousand undergraduates, PhD students and scientists, who meet the leading figures of science. Valuable contacts are made at the event.