The global situation right now is dominated by discussion of COVID-19, as well as the Herculean attempts to create a vaccine for the disease. And as reports of the Phase III trials start to come in, we can look at this photo — a scientist’s laboratory from the early 20th century, cluttered and filthy. Rotting bananas created a nauseating smell, and glass milk jars did not contain the bugs which hovered about the space. This was the Fly Room of Thomas Hunt Morgan of Columbia University, and it was his studies that set in motion much of the understanding of genetics which is making the COVID-19 vaccine possible.
Thomas Morgan (1866-1945) worked with genes before the role of DNA was even known. By deliberately breeding the Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly, he was able to isolate mutant flies and create strains with specific characteristics. He assembled a team of extremely bright colleagues, and they collaborated with each other from 1908-1927 to produce the most important understanding of how genes carry information to date.
For instance, they figured out that some genes were linked together on chromosomes. They assembled a rudimentary genome by figuring out, like a sudoku-puzzle, which genes appeared in what order on a chromosome
They also were the first to study “crossing over” – when genetic information is exchanged during sexual reproduction.
These findings were of course a foundational step for putting together the genetic sequence of living organisms, something that the mRNA-based vaccines Pfizer and Moderna are now doing with their vaccines. However, Morgan’s collaborative methodology also provided a model of how best to make scientific progress — one which has been invalueable in the battle against SARS-COV2.
Source(s): Image of Morgan’s Fly Room around 1920 American Philosophical Society.
