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Asked by anon-233435 to Varun, Sammie, Rebecca, Anna, Alin, Adam on 11 Nov 2019.
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Varun Ramaswamy answered on 11 Nov 2019:
My field is finding out the 3D shape of proteins. Without a doubt, the realisation that we can actually find the shape of proteins has been and will always be the biggest finding in my field.
2 brilliant scientists in Cambridge had a hobby of thinking about using X-rays to image protein crystals in their spare time back in 1950s and so they decided to try it out after work everyday in one corner of their lab.
One day, it actually worked! Their little experiment had just completely revolutionised the study of molecular biology!!
They received the Nobel prize for this in 1962 and the first protein they had successfully found the shape of, was the muscle protein-myoglobin.
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Rebecca Shaw answered on 11 Nov 2019:
I would say genome sequencing is one of the most important breakthroughs that springs to my mind.
Genome sequencing was tried and tested for a while, but it wasn’t until 1976 that these methods became widely used. They make it easy for scientists to look at what ‘code’ makes up an organism (essentially what genes and non coding bits of DNA are you made up of). This is your blue print and you are made up of billions of pieces of code! Scientists can then look at an organisms genome and identify genes that are involved in disease, behaviour, hair colour – just a whole variety of things!
More applications of these are that we can look at what genes bacteria have that make them antibiotic resistant to better understand how to fight them off.
Another is the ability to distinguish similar animals from one species to another. This can be important for conservation of species. -
Adam Washington answered on 11 Nov 2019:
Probably the most important accomplishment in a field that I’ve worked in (even if it occurred before I ever worked in it) was the study of giant magnetoresistence (GMR). These are materials that suddenly become better at conducting electricity when they’re in the presence of a magnetic field. Almost every computer hard drive since the late 90’s has used one of these, since it can be made much smaller than the old style of drive readers. A smaller read head means that the data can be safely packed more densely and still be read back, which means more more stored on the drive. Without the ability to custom build and design GMR materials, computer would have a hundred to a thousand times less space available. This correspondingly means that any advancements that needed large amounts of disk space (e.g. the iPod, Netflix), would also be impossible.
I’m going to go ahead and brag for a minute. In 2007, the Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg for their work on GMR. On page six of Nobel committee’s scientific background publication, they site the work of Charles Majkrzak in studying these lattice systems. I was performing an experiment with him on the day that the prize was announced. And working with someone cited by the committee is probably the closest that I’ll ever get.
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Samantha Firth answered on 19 Nov 2019:
I would say one of the most interesting discoveries in biochemistry was finding the structure of DNA!🧬We cracked the code for life!🕵️♀️ When we discovered how to read DNA, we unlocked the potential to discover SO MUCH about the world around us!🔎 We can find out the cause of illnesses, study the evolution of animals and even solve crimes! It’s pretty incredible and there is so much more it will be used for! Pretty exciting 😎🔬
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