The thing I'm most interested in is the nervous system. How do brains grow? How do genes build complicated nervous systems?
Sydney BrennerRead
The moment I saw the model and heard about the complementing base pairs I realized that it was the key to understanding all the problems in biology we had found intractable - it was the birth of molecular biology.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the importance of understanding DNA and its structure in solving biological problems.
In this quote, Sydney Brenner emphasizes a pivotal moment in the field of molecular biology when the discovery of DNA's structure and the concept of base pairing opened the door to solving complex biological issues. This realization marked a significant advancement in our understanding of genetics and the mechanisms at play in living organisms, illustrating how a breakthrough in knowledge can lead to profound insights in a scientific field.
Themes
Molecular BiologyDnaBase PairsUnderstandingBiological Problems
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about innovation in biology, one might include this quote to illustrate the impact of foundational discoveries.
More from Sydney Brenner
All quotes →People have always asked whether evolution is constantly driving onwards and upwards. Is there always going to be improvement? The answer is no: evolution is a progression of form and function, but it is not purposeful.
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The art of doing science is doing the important things first.
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As was predicted at the beginning of the Human Genome Project, getting the sequence will be the easy part as only technical issues are involved. The hard part will be finding out what it means, because this poses intellectual problems of how to understand the participation of the genes in the functions of living cells.
Sydney BrennerRead
It is now widely realized that nearly all the 'classical' problems of molecular biology have either been solved or will be solved in the next decade. The entry of large numbers of American and other biochemists into the field will ensure that all the chemical details of replication and transcription will be elucidated. Because of this, I have long felt that the future of molecular biology lies in the extension of research to other fields of biology, notably development and the nervous system.
Sydney BrennerRead
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