“Jennifer Doudna was dressed casually in a blazer and jeans, with a scarf tossed gently around her neck to compliment a loose bob of blonde hair. Raised in Hilo, Hawaii, she retains a hint of the friendly islander vibe, even though she’s been recently thrust into the scientific spotlight.A biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, Doudna is widely credited as one of the pioneers of a genetic technology that lets scientists tweak the DNA of practically any living creature.Known as CRISPR/Cas9, the technique has been credited with the potential to cure genetic defects, eradicate diseases, and even end the organ transplant shortage.”

“For such a model there is no need to ask the question “Is the model true?”. If “truth” is to be the “whole truth” the answer must be “No”. The only question of interest is “Is the model illuminating and useful?”

“In a period of less than five years, the GWAS experimental design in human populations has led to new discoveries about genes and pathways involved in common diseases and other complex traits, has provided a wealth of new biological insights, has led to discoveries with direct clinical utility, and has facilitated basic research in human genetics and genomics”.

“Apart from sex linkage, we know almost nothing at present of linkage in man. Yet it is certain that every defect determined by a single factor must be located in one or other of twenty-three linkage groups. Each defect must therefore be linked in inheritance with numerous other observable traits, and with some of them is probably linked closely. The search for such linkage will certainly be lengthy, and at first, disappointing.”

“In 1909, the only time during his twenty–four years at Columbia, Morgan gave the opening lectures in the undergraduate course in beginning zoology. It so happened that C. B. Bridges and I were both in the class. While genetics was not mentioned, we were both attracted to Morgan and were fortunate enough, though both still undergraduates, to be given desks in his laboratory the following year (1910–1911).The possibilities of the genetic study of Drosophila were then just beginning to be apparent; we were at the right place at the right time. … In the latter part of 1911, in conversation with Morgan … I suddenly realized that the variations in strength of linkage, already attributed by Morgan to differences in the spatial separation of the genes, offered the possibility of determining sequences in the linear dimension of a chromosome. I went home and spent most of the night (to the neglect of my undergraduate homework) in producing the first chromosome map, which included the sex–linked genes y, w, v, m, and r, in the order and approximately the relative spacing that they still appear on the standard maps”