Polymerase chain reaction at Cetus

Year: 1983
Creator: Kary Mullis and Cetus Corporation scientists
Company: Cetus Corporation
Location: Cetus Corporation, 1400 Fifty-Third Street, Emeryville, California
Room: Homebrew ↗

Description

The polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, heats and cools a DNA sample many times, and an enzyme doubles one stretch of DNA in each cycle. The machine shown is a prototype PCR instrument from approximately 1986.

Importance

Kary Mullis invented PCR in 1983 while he worked as a chemist at Cetus Corporation in Emeryville. In 1991 Cetus sold its PCR business to Hoffmann-La Roche for $300 million and future royalties. Mullis shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and doctors use PCR to find HIV infections and faulty genes.

Interesting fact

Mullis said that the idea came to him during a Friday night drive, and he stopped his car on Highway 128 to check the math.

Sources

Kary B. Mullis, Nobel Lecture: The Polymerase Chain Reaction ↗Nobel Prize Outreach · 1993-12-08
Press release: The 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry ↗Nobel Prize Outreach · 1993-10-13
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR): science summary and timeline ↗WhatisBiotechnology.org
Prototype polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine, object co146415 ↗Science Museum Group Collection
US Patent 4,683,202, Process for amplifying nucleic acid sequences (Kary B. Mullis; assigned to Cetus Corporation, Emeryville, and later to Hoffmann-La Roche) ↗Google Patents (USPTO record) · 1987-07-28
2 Biotech Pioneers To Merge ↗The New York Times (Internet Archive copy) · 1991-07-23
Chiron Corporation annual report on Form 10-K (Cetus sold its PCR business to Roche in 1991) ↗U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · 1995-03-17