Foundations

A happenstance collaboration between biologists and roboticists led to the birth of a strange creation: living machines derived from frog stem cells.

Proteins interact with DNA to regulate many vital processes in cells. Nearly 40 years ago, researchers developed a way to map these molecular connections.

A series of rodent experiments showed that even with abundant food and water, personal space is essential to prevent societal collapse, but Universe 25's relevance to humans remains disputed.

The road to developing monoclonal antibodies for effectively targeting cancer was paved with tenacity, passion, and strokes of luck.

Standing at the cornerstone of genetic research, Cre-loxP recombination serves as molecular scissors for precisely manipulating the genome.

In 2006, Paul Rothemund transformed the field of DNA nanotechnology when he unveiled an innovative approach for making shapes and patterns from genetic material.

The common fluorescent marker GFP traveled a long road to take its popular place in molecular biology today.

Microscopes were inaccessible to most of the world until Manu Prakash and Jim Cybulski put their engineering prowess to the test.

By coloring different organelles simultaneously, cell painting allows scientists to pick up subtle changes in cell function in response to drugs and other perturbations.

A discovery that goes back to the first studies of translation has become the topic of biotech buzz.

Endonuclease R changed Richard Roberts’ career trajectory and created an industry.

A moonlit drive inspired the theory behind PCR. What did it take to make that wild idea reality?

Coaxing bacteria into taking up recombinant DNA was arduous until Douglas Hanahan took action.

Janet Mertz’s work with simian virus 40 DNA during her graduate years was pivotal for developing DNA recombination as we now know it.

Political activist and Nobel winner Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin pioneered X-ray crystallography to discover the molecular structures of penicillin and insulin.

Public bathing, ubiquitous around the world and through the ages, plays an often-unappreciated role in public health.

The father-and-son duo Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka crafted thousands of scientifically accurate models of plants and sea creatures as teaching aids. 

Pathologist Peyton Rous made a groundbreaking discovery in the early 20th century, but his work wasn’t widely recognized until more than 40 years later. 

Pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale had an eye for creating memorable graphics that helped convince the general population that including sanitation reforms as part of public health policy would save British soldiers’ lives.