LabBook, Inc. provides XML-powered life science informatics for biomedical researchers. The PCR technique is an essential tool that hastened the global race to decode the human genome. Dr. Mullis is currently Vice President of Molecular Biology for Burstein Laboratories in California. Professor Volker A. Erdmann, serves as Director of the Institute of Biochemistry at the Freie Universit t in Berlin, Germany and is Chairman of RiNA Netzwerk RNA-Technologien GmbH, The RNA Network. The Network currently has over twenty partners from Universities, Max Planck Institutes and other government laboratories and industry.
Biological research is a detailed description of living matter.
The last thirty years has seen the form of this description evolve from a verbal one to the more exacting symbolic metaphors of organic chemistry including the detailed structures of nucleic acids and proteins. Their input will be invaluable as we continue to develop enabling life science tools and informatics that will allow researchers to access, analyze, and integrate data. Dr. Mullis' PCR technique takes a small amount of genetic material and makes copies of sufficient quantities for practical use in medical, biological, and forensics research. It has also been used as a means to screen patients for genetic disorders such as sickle cell anemia and Huntington's chorea. In addition, evolutionary biologists employ PCR to study very small amounts of genetic material extracted from the fossil remains of ancient species and it is routinely used for forensic scientists to identify suspects or victims from traces of blood, semen or hair strands left at a crime scene.