DNA Phoebus Levene and the discovery of the 2-dimensional structure of DNA 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.
PCR Who discovered PCR first? The answer might surprise you The method below has been cited more than 600,000 times and is one of the most important developments in the history of science.
DNA Rosalind Franklin's legacy goes well beyond her work on the structure of DNA 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.
Prenatal Testing Circulating cell free DNA testing was born in 1997 The two gels above spawned a multi-billion dollar industry that didn't exist prior to their publication in 1997.
Breakthroughs Contrary to popular belief, there are 21 amino acids and the 21st was discovered in 1976 You might have been told that there are 20 amino acids. That’s a lie.
Genomic Sequencing Frederick Sanger sequenced the first DNA genome, he didn't use 'Sanger Sequencing' to do it Frederick Sanger invented a famous DNA sequencing method. It's not the one pictured below (which he also invented).
Proteins Green Fluorescent Protein was first discovered in Jellyfish in 1960 In 1994, an obscure jellyfish protein was stuck into a worm. It has enlightened biology and medicine ever since.
DNA The Lac Operon: Everyone's heard of it, but do you know how it was discovered? '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.
Breakthroughs Defenders from the sea: Our bloody history with horseshoe crabs Horseshoe crab blood is our first line of defense against endotoxin contamination of surgical tools and medical devices. Seriously.
High-Throughput Sequencing In 2009, high throughput sequencing gave us our first glimpse of the 3-D organization of the DNA in our nuclei While chromosomes are usually depicted as X's, they actually spend most of their time jumbled up like a giant ball of yarn.
Genetics The 'Histone Code' fundamentally changed how we think about gene expression Histones were once thought to just be dumb structural proteins that held chromatin together; now we know that the ‘histone code’ is a major regulator of gene expression.
Breakthroughs mRNA vaccines almost weren't a thing 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.
DNA The 2-D structure of tRNA was solved in 1965, its solver probably isn't someone you've heard of before The next great mystery to solve after the discovery of the DNA double helix was to figure out how the nucleotide sequence coded for proteins.
Laboratory Developed Tests Mice, Frogs, Rabbits, OH MY! The early days of pregnancy testing were wild. For the better part of 40 years, pregnancy tests were done by injecting urine into animals and seeing what happened. No, seriously!
Genetics The ends of our chromosomes are a paradox What if I told you that we didn't fully understand how human DNA was copied until 1989?
Genetics Biologically female mammals have two X chromosomes, but what might surprise you is that one of those X's is turned off. We first discovered there was something funny going on with X-chromosomes in 1948.
DNA Nettie Stevens, a former school teacher turned geneticist, discovered sex chromosomes in 1905. Here's her story: Nettie Stevens’ contributions to the field of genetics were groundbreaking.
Genetics Barbara McClintock discovered a little thing called the transposable element in 1950 While everyone else was distracted by the structure of DNA, Barbara McClintock was discovering a little thing called the transposable element.
DNA The structure of the DNA double-helix was published in 1953, but it took another 13 years to actually crack the genetic code. The questions of how DNA is copied and codes for proteins remained for a while after the structure was confirmed.
DNA Chargaff’s Rule is the most basic rule of DNA 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 Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material, but early on, most of science thought the genetic material was protein —that changed in 1952 Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material, but early on, most of science thought the genetic material was protein. That changed in 1952.
Genomic Sequencing Commercial industrial engineering is the savior of high-throughput genomics We ‘completed’ the human genome in 2003, thanks mostly to commercial industrial engineering.
Genetics 6LL3, better known as Dolly the Sheep, showed that mammalian cloning was possible in 1997 Why was a sheep the first choice for this ground-breaking work?
DNA One of the most important papers in the history of genetics was basically ignored when it was published in 1944 When Oswald Avery, Colin Macleod and Maclyn McCarty published their paper in 1944 showing unequivocally that DNA was the genetic material, it wasn’t very well received.
Genetics Beadle and Tatum were the first to marry biochemistry with genetics in 1941 The field of molecular biology was born in 1941 through the marriage of genetics and biochemistry.
