DNA The 2D structure of DNA was solved by someone you've probably never heard of before Watson and Crick were the first to describe the structure of the DNA double helix. Their major contribution to science was, at its core, a synthesis of all of the best data available at the time.
Molecular Biology PCR has a more interesting history than you might have been told The method below has been cited more than 600,000 times and is one of the most important developments in the history of science.
NIPT Non-invasive prenatal testing is a big business. Here's how it got its start. The two gels below spawned a multi-billion dollar industry that didn't exist prior to their publication in 1997.
DNA The most famous picture in the history of genetics The most famous photo in the history of genetics wasn’t generated by Watson and Crick, but that didn’t stop them from using it to solve the structure of DNA.
Historical Paper Review There are more than 20 amino acids You might have been told that there are 20 amino acids. That’s a lie.
High-Throughput Sequencing The 'plus and minus' method: Fred Sanger's first attempt at DNA sequencing Frederick Sanger invented a famous DNA sequencing method. It's not the one pictured below (which he also invented).
Molecular Biology Jelly fish proteins started brightening up microscopy in 1994 In 1994, an obscure jellyfish protein was stuck into a worm. It has enlightened biology and medicine ever since.
Gene Expression The Lac Operon showed us that gene expression can be regulated 'If gene expression determines the function of a cell, it must be important to control that process?' Yes, very! Let me tell you about the PaJaMo experiment.
Molecular Biology Horseshoe crab blood to the rescue! Horseshoe crab blood is our first line of defense against endotoxin contamination of surgical tools and medical devices. Seriously.
Vaccines mRNA vaccines almost didn't happen It is estimated that COVID-19 vaccination has prevented over 20 million deaths worldwide. We can thank the dogged perseverance of a browbeaten scientist for that.
Diagnostics Early pregnancy tests were wild For the better part of 40 years, pregnancy tests were done by injecting urine into animals and seeing what happened. No, seriously!
Genomics Telomerase and how linear genomes attempt to stay long What if I told you that the ends of our chromosomes are a paradox and we didn't fully understand how human DNA was copied until 1989?
Epigenetics The discovery that X-inactivation is caused by a long non-coding RNA Biologically female mammals have two X chromosomes, but what might surprise you is that one of those X's is turned off.
Molecular Biology The isolation of insulin required a lot of trial and error Insulin: It was believed to exist, but everyone who tried to isolate it failed.
Chromatin The discovery of sex chromosomes was just as controversial as everything else in genetics Nettie Stevens, a former school teacher turned geneticist, discovered sex chromosomes in 1905. Here's her story:
Genetics The weird color patterns of corn kernels led to a major genetic discovery in 1950 While everyone else was distracted by the structure of DNA, Barbara McClintock was discovering a little thing called the transposable element.
Genetics It took 35 years for the first human Mendelian disease to be described Mendel first described his laws of genetic inheritance in 1865. They were promptly ignored for 35 years.
DNA The most basic rule of DNA was first described in 1950 A and T, and G and C are present in the same amounts in DNA. It’s the most basic rule of DNA. It’s also called Chargaff’s Rule.
DNA Is the genetic material protein or DNA? A blender decided. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material, but early on, most of science thought the genetic material was protein. That changed in 1952.
High-Throughput Sequencing Automated sanger sequencing's fluorescent beginnings We ‘completed’ the human genome in 2003, thanks mostly to commercial industrial engineering.
Cloning Dolly the sheep stole our hearts in 1997 6LL3, better known as Dolly the sheep, showed that mammalian cloning was possible in 1997.
Historical Paper Review Oswald Avery, Colin Macleod and Maclyn McCarty showed that DNA was the genetic material in 1944 One of the most important papers in the history of genetics was basically ignored when it was published in 1944.
Molecular Biology Molecular Biology is the offspring of biochemistry and genetics The field of molecular biology was born in 1941 through the marriage of genetics and biochemistry.
Historical Paper Review A wormy discovery becomes a knockout laboratory technique One of the best ways to figure out what a gene does is to get rid of it and see what happens.
Historical Paper Review Fred Sanger didn't get his first Nobel for DNA sequencing Fred Sanger received a Nobel Prize for his work with Insulin. As the father of DNA sequencing, this surely was for insulin's nucleic acid sequence? It wasn't.
