Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Philip I. Marcus
Vincent travels to the University of Connecticut to meet up with Professor Philip I. Marcus to discuss his development of the single cell cloning technique in the early 1950s.
Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV 197 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes).
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Links for this episode:
- Transcript of this episode (pdf) – thanks Dr. Fernandez!)
- Cloning with X-irradiated feeder cells (PNAS)
- Philip I. Marcus in the lab (jpg)
- Cloning with capillary tubes (jpg)
- Cloning platform (jpg)
- VRR holding 1950s glass plate of clones (jpg)
- HeLa clones (jpg)
- Cloning cylinder (jpg)
- TWiV on Facebook
- Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube
Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected].
Such a wonderful TWiV episode! I’m very happy that you were able to get ahold of Dr. Marcus. He told this story briefly in our virology class, but he didn’t go into as much detail as here, so this was very valuable.
Thanks for this great interview, you guys are an inspiration.
This was great!!
I love listening to him describe the first experiment where he sees the HeLa cells divide on the platform. “First there was one cell, and then 24 hours later there were 2 cells!” You can tell still sees it in his memory and remembers everything about that day. Love it.
He had an amazing recall of the events, and is still highly enthusiastic. It’s great to see that after so many years. I hope I do (well, I’ll have the enthusiasm, not sure about the memory).
I think this is the beginning of a “Pioneers of Science” series. Who else is still around?
By far one of my favorite Twiv’s! I love it when you interview someone and let them tell their story.
I hope other scientists may be this genuine in attributing credit to contribution by others.
Genetic engineering or cloning can extend the life-span of
humans. Both can be used for good or evil purposes, many of which we are not
presently aware. It will change every aspect of our culture. In scientific
research when you open one door of discovery you find many more doors across
the threshold. I wrote an ebook mystery novel on the subject titled BLOODGUILTY
which is available on KINDLE bookstore by RAYMOND THOR.
Click here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_i_0?rh=k%3Araymond+thor%2Ci%3Adigital-text&keywords=raymond+thor&ie=UTF8&qid=1344014633
While doing the transcribing and researching for the many names that Drs. Racaniello and Marcus were mentioning during their conversation, I chanced upon a PDF document of the life and work of another distinguished scientist whose name was mentioned in the interview – Dr. Bill Joklik. The article, entitled “The Adventures of a Biochemist in Virology” was written by no other than Dr. Joklik in 2005. Link:
http://mgm.duke.edu/faculty/images/joklik_bio.pdf
I hate to say negative things, but this web cast didn’t catch my interest nearly as much as other TWiVs. My apologies to Dr. Marcus. If it’s any consolation, my life is much less interesting than his 🙂
It would be more interesting if one understood basic biology that led to molecular biology and eventually bioinformatics.