Latest News

Clues beginning to emerge on asymtomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection
Back in November of 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was teaching an in-person microbiology laboratory. One of my students had just been home to see his parents, and they all c…
Read more
Could there maybe be better uses of genetics and probiotics?
Professor Meng Dong and his laboratory have created a probiotic that can metabolize alcohol quickly and maybe prevent some of the adverse effects of alcohol consumption. The scientists cloned a highl…
Read more
ChatGPT is not the end of essays in education
The takeover of AI is upon us! AI can now take all our jobs, is the click-bait premise you hear from the news. While I cannot predict the future, I am dubious that AI will play such a dubious role in…
Read more
Fighting infections with infections
Multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections are becoming more of an issue, with 1.2 million people dying of previously treatable bacterial infections. Scientists are frantically searching for new metho…
Read more
A tale of two colleges
COVID-19 at the University of Wisconsin this fall has been pretty much a non-issue. While we are wearing masks, full in-person teaching is happening on campus. Bars, restaurants, and all other busine…
Read more

News

Why is basic research important? Here is your answer


 

In the early 1960's Tom Brock was on vacation in Yellowstone National park. He hit the usual tourist destinations, including the hot springs of the park. To his astonishment, he observed what he was sure were cyanobacteria living at temperatures over 80°C (176°F). Professor Brock went back to his lab and wrote a grant to study the microbes present in this environment. Now many would think that this research is esoteric at best. However, as part of that research, Tom discovered Thermus aquaticus, a microbe that has a optimum growth temperature at 85°C. This was unheard of at the time and it opened up the field of extremophiles, which has let to many important discoveries. 

Fast forward until the 1990's, where Kary Mullis is searching for a replacement polymerase that can withstand the heat of a new reaction cycle he is working out. He decides to use the polymerase from Thermus aquaticus, now known as taq polymerase, instead of the polymerase of E. coli. Taq polymerase can withstand the high temperature his procedure requires. His experiments are a success, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is born, and Dr. Mullis wins the nobel prize. PCR is now a powerful technique used in medicine, the food industry, forensics, many types of basic research, and much more.

For his work, Dr. Brock received the golden goose award, celebrating the huge payoff his little experiments in Yellowstone had. Professor Brock was a faculty member here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.