Wooing the Fates: An Imaginary Conversation
Kary B. Mullis talks to his driving companion about discovering PCR
The following is an imaginary conversation between two real people about the discovery of the polymerase chain reaction or PCR — a technology that has changed the course of biology, medicine, and biotechnology, and given us the means to detect COVID infections.
The conversation…
I got it! I got it!! Jenn, I got it!
The car swerves sinusoidally across the mountain road as Kary excitedly bangs his fists on the steering wheel. The headlights pan across the redwoods around them like torches nervously seeking monsters under the bed or deep within a cave.
His girlfriend, Jennifer Barnett, wakes up and grabs the armrests. What’s wrong, what have you got?
I know how to amplify DNA! I can make buckets of it, it’s a chain reaction!! Wooooo!
Settle down or you’re going to get us killed! Are you high again?
It is 1983 and Kary B. Mullis, Ph.D. is an extraordinary biochemist and research director at one of the first biotechnology companies in the US, a company called Cetus Corporation which makes short synthetic pieces of DNA.
