Gene: I Wanna Be Like Mike Michael Jordan, accomplished hoopster and frequent corporate spokesman, now has his name on a gene. Jordan's legendary leaping ability has led a pair of cell biologists to name a specialized "jumping" gene after the basketball star. Dr. David Kirk and Dr. Stephen Miller, from Washington University in St. Louis, gave Jordan's name to a transposon, a special gene that jumps within cells. "Transporsons are frequently named after things that imply mobility, like Gulliver or gypsy," said Dr. Kirk. "As far as I know, this is the only gene named after an individual." According to Kirk, transposons are common to almost all living organisms. They leave a distinct trace when they jump, which has led to a number of important breakthroughs in the study of genetics.