Kary Mullis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kary B. Mullis, 2006

Kary Banks Mullis (born December 28, 1944 in Lenoir , North Carolina - † August 7, 2019 in Newport Beach , California ) was an American biochemist . He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993 together with Michael Smith for the development of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 1983. PCR quickly developed into one of the most important methods in modern molecular biology.

Mullis was considered an unconventional person and an eccentric in the scientific community. He caused a stir because of his denial of several scientifically indisputable facts, including as an AIDS denier .

Life

Kary Mullis grew up in Columbia , where he attended Dreher High School in 1962 . He then studied chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology , where he obtained a B.Sc. attained. This was followed by a doctoral degree in biochemistry and Mullis received his Ph. D. in 1973 with John B. Neilands at the University of California, Berkeley with the thesis Schizokinen: structure and synthetic work .

After receiving his doctorate, he worked in Lawrence at the Medical School of the University of Kansas and in San Francisco at the University of California . In 1979 he joined Cetus Corp. in Emeryville , California , where he developed the polymerase chain reaction technology, which enables DNA to be duplicated almost as often as required.

PCR

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is based on the principle of “separating, coupling and copying” on the cyclically repeated duplication of DNA with the aid of a thermostable DNA polymerase and nucleotides . Today the PCR u. a. indispensable for the detection of viral infections , genetic diseases , creating genetic fingerprints and the cloning of genes .

According to an anecdote he told himself, Mullis got the inspiration for the trial in April 1983 during a night drive to his vacation home in the redwood forests of northern California. As can be seen from his autobiography, he was an avid surfer and used LSD in the 1960s . Mullis doubted that he could have detected PCR without the influence of psychedelic drugs.

In recognition of this, Mullis received a bonus payment of US $ 10,000 from his employers in 1986. A patent application has been filed for the PCR method and the corresponding patent (# 4 683 202) was granted on July 28, 1987. In August 1989 the chemical company DuPont filed a lawsuit against Cetus, alleging that the patent contained no real news. Later critics of Mullis also pointed out that as early as 1971 the Norwegian postdoc Kjell Kleppe (later professor at the University of Bergen ), who worked in Har Gobind Khorana's laboratory , had described a process for the duplication of DNA segments. Ultimately, however, Kleppe came about 10 years too early. In the early 1970s, thermostable DNA polymerases were not yet available and the process described by Kleppe was very complex. Only Mullis succeeded (probably also in ignorance of Kleppe's work) in making the method practicable.

Due to financial difficulties and the legally unclear patent situation, Cetus sold its patent claims on December 11, 1991 for US $ 300 million to Hoffmann-La Roche .

Private life

Mullis has been married four times and has two sons and a daughter. He died at the age of 74 years from the effects of pneumonia .

Controversy

Mullis denied several scientifically undisputed facts, in particular the scientifically proven fact that AIDS is caused by HIV viruses. He also made a number of controversial statements on other scientific topics. He was a member of the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV-Aids Hypothesis , a group of scientists who deny the scientifically proven connection between HIV and AIDS ( AIDS deniers ). Mullis himself never did research on HIV, but in his autobiography he described his skepticism about the connection between HIV and AIDS. He also reported there on encounters with aliens and his belief in the occurrence of UFOs and astrology . In addition, Mullis has also contested the state of scientific research on the ozone hole and climate change .

Further prices

Fonts

literature

Web links

Commons : Kary Mullis  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dylan Loeb McClain: Kary B. Mullis, 74, Dies; Found a Way to Analyze DNA and Won Nobel. In: The New York Times . August 15, 2019 (English). Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  2. ↑ biographical data, publications and Academic pedigree of Kary Mullis at academictree.org, accessed on January 4 of 2019.
  3. ↑ Bärbel Häcker: Mullis, Kary B. 2005, p. 1016.
  4. ↑ Bärbel Häcker: Mullis, Kary B. 2005, p. 1016.
  5. ↑ Bärbel Häcker: Mullis, Kary B. 2005, p. 1016.
  6. ^ Books: Weird Science . In: The New York Times. October 11, 1998.
  7. ↑ Ann Harrison: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? In: Wired. Wired, January 16, 2006, accessed on March 11, 2008 : “Like Herbert, many scientists and engineers also report heightened states of creativity while using LSD. During a press conference on Friday, Hofmann revealed that he was told by Nobel-prize-winning chemist Kary Mullis that LSD had helped him develop the polymerase chain reaction that helps amplify specific DNA sequences. "
  8. ^ K. Kleppe, E. Ohtsuka, R. Kleppe, I. Molineux, HG Khorana: Studies on polynucleotides. XCVI. Repair replications of short synthetic DNA's as catalyzed by DNA polymerases . In: J Mol Biol . tape 56 , no. 2 , March 14, 1971, p. 341-361 , doi : 10.1016 / 0022-2836 (71) 90469-4 , PMID 4927950 (English).
  9. ↑ Jonathan D. Kaunitz: The Discovery of PCR: ProCuRement of Divine Power . In: Dig Dis Sci . tape 60 , no. 8 , August 2015, p. 2230–2231 , doi : 10.1007 / s10620-015-3747-0 (English).
  10. ↑ J. Fore Jr, IR Wiechers, R. Cook-Deegan: The effects of business practices, licensing, and intellectual property on development and dissemination of the polymerase chain reaction: case study . In: J Biomed Discov Collab . tape 1 , no. 7 , July 3, 2006, doi : 10.1186 / 1747-5333-1-7 , PMID 16817955 (English).
  11. ^ Scientist at Work / Kary Mullis. In: The New York Times. September 15, 1998 (access = March 22, 2010)
  12. ^ K. Mullis: Dancing Naked in the Mind Field . Vintage Books, 1998, ISBN 0-679-44255-3 , pp. 115-118, 143-153 ( google.com ).
  13. ^ Nicoli Nattrass, Seth C. Kalichman : The Politics and Psychology of AIDS Denialism. In: Poul Rohleder et al. (Ed.): HIV / AIDS in South Africa 25 Years On. Psychosocial Perspectives . Springer, New York / Dordrecht / Heidelberg / London 2009, 123-134, p. 124.
  14. ↑ George Johnson: Bright Scientists, Dim Notions . In: The New York Times. October 28, 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Mullis, Kary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mullis, Kary Banks; Mullis, Kary B.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biochemist and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1993)
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Lenoir , North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH 7th August 2019
Place of death Newport Beach , California