1983 Nobel Prize Winner Paul Berg

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Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids and Recombinant

Introduction

The following essay will outline the 1983 Nobel Prize winner Paul Berg, for his studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids and recombinant-DNA. The reason why I chose Paul Berg as my Nobel Laureate was because his findings won him the Nobel Prize in the field of Biochemistry. Since he won the prize for Biochemistry, his findings will cover both Biology and Chemistry, which will help me in two of my NCUK courses. In the essay, a discussion consisting of Berg’s biography, research, and the science behind his winning will be covered. Also, a summary of the essay and a critical evaluation will be discussed.

Discussion

Biography

Paul Berg was born on June 30, 1926 in New York, USA (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). He graduated from Pennsylvania State College, and later received his doctorate from Western Reserve University. With his extensive educational background, Berg continued his studies at the Institute of Cytophysiology (study of physiology of cells) in Copenhagen, and at Washington University in St. Louis (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). He then later worked for Stanford University Medical School where he conducted his research that lead him to the Nobel Prize (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). After he won the Nobel Prize, Berg set up an organization called the Asilomer Conference, which discussed the hazards and harms involved with recombinant DNA (Berg, 2004). The conference concluded that there are very little to no hazards invlolved with recombinant DNA (Berg, 2004).

Research

Paul Berg created the first recombinant DNA molecule by combining genes from different organisms. Recombinant DNA is a DNA molecule created by joining various DNA seque...

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...2013. Paul Berg (American Biochemist). [online] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61698/Paul-Berg [Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].

Immunization Action Coalition. n.d. Historic Dates and Events Related to Vaccines and Immunization. [online] Available at: http://www.immunize.org/timeline/ [Accessed: 23 Feb 2014].

Medical News Today. 2013. Discovery of Insulin. [online] Available at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/discoveryofinsulin.php [Accessed: 23 Feb 2014].

Princeton University. n.d. DNA ligase. [online] Available at: https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/DNA_ligase.html [Accessed: 23 Feb 2014].

Shapiro, L. J. and Cederbaum, S. 1984. Recombinant DNA in Medicine. Western Journal of Medicine, 141 (2), p. 210. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1021739/ [Accessed: 10 Feb 2014].

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