Hi, Folks -

As reported by Wikipedia:

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Aug 7

Kary Mullis, 74, American biochemist, Nobel laureate (1993), pneumonia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kary_Mullis

Kary Banks Mullis (December 28, 1944 – August 7, 2019) was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist. In recognition of his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith[4] and was awarded the Japan Prize in the same year. The process, first conjectured by Kjell Kleppe and 1968 Nobel laureate Har Gobind Khorana, allowed for the amplification of specific DNA sequences.[5][6][7] Mullis' interpretation of the concept made PCR become a central technique in biochemistry and molecular biology, described by The New York Times as "highly original and significant, virtually dividing biology into the two epochs of before PCR and after PCR."

I haven't been able to find a quote about it, but despite what may have become 'common practice' now, I recall reading that Mullis said PCR was not appropriate as a diagnostic test. Its 'amplification' of DNA strands makes it possible to determine if a particular strand is present in a blood sample, but if for example HIV infection/infestation were present, one wouldn't need PCR to find that out as the multiplying virus population would be rather easy to observe without such amplification.

I might be wrong about that, it's been at least 30 years since I read it. :) But that's how I remember what Mullis was saying.

--hobie

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