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Redirecting the Immune System: An Interview With Dr. Kary Mullis
Kary Mullis, Ph.D., won the 1993 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which revolutionized the study of genetics. The journal Science listed Dr. Mullis' invention of PCR as one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in human history.
PCR is a technique that allows chemists to easily and inexpensively replicate as much precise DNA as they need. This solved a core problem in genetics. Before PCR, the existing methods for making copies of those particular strands of DNA that one was interested in were slow, expensive, and imprecise. The brilliance behind this invention, as well as its utter simplicity, lies in PCR’s ability to turn the job over to the very biomolecules that nature uses for copying DNA. PCR multiplies a single, microscopic strand of genetic material billions of times within hours. The process has many applications in medicine, genetics, biotechnology, and forensics.
When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Dr. Mullis the Nobel Prize, they said it had “hastened the rapid development of genetic engineering” and “greatly stimulated biochemical research and opened the way for new applications in medicine and biology.” Just flipping through any current issue of the journals Science or Nature one will encounter advertisements for PCR systems every few pages. In addition to revolutionizing the study of genetics, it's also influenced popular culture and science fiction. Because PCR has the ability to extract DNA from fossils, it was the theoretical basis for the motion picture Jurassic Park. In reality, PCR is the basis of an entirely new scientific discipline, paleobiology.
Dr. Mullis earned his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972. He has authored several major patents, and has received numerous, highly prestigious awards—including the Japan Prize (1993), the Thomas A. Edison Award (1993), and the California Scientist of the Year Award (1992). He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1998.
Dr. Mullis is the author of the book Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, an autobiographical account of his fascinating, and sometimes mind-bending adventures, which makes a compelling case for the existence of greater mystery in the world around us.
Dr. Mullis is currently a Distinguished Researcher at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. He also serves on the board of scientific advisors of several companies, provides expert advice in legal matters involving DNA, and is a frequent lecturer at college campuses, corporations, and academic meetings around the world. He is the inventor and founder of Altermune, LLC. To find out more about Dr. Mullis’ work, visit his Web site: www.karymullis.com
In the following interview, Kary and I discussed his current research which offers tremendous hope as a medical treatment for dealing with virtually any type of pathogen by engaging the immune system in a novel way.
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