In 1968 , Hudson Freeze , MS ’ 71 , PhD ’ 76 , ( pictured middle ) co-discovered Thermus aquaticus with Thomas Brock in a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park . The microbe would optimize the polymerase chain reaction ( PCR ) and revolutionize DNA science . See tritonmag . com / yellowstone
The Missing Link
Completing the Triton story of Taq and PCR
Can you tell us how you came to discover Thermus aquaticus ( Taq )? I was an honors student in microbiology at Indiana University when my mentor suggested that I talk to Dr . Thomas Brock about working in his lab . Almost immediately , I was invited on his research trip to Yellowstone . That was a big deal for me , as I ’ d never even been out of Indiana !
Once out there , I started working in the lab — just a little house with some equipment , really . We went to the springs every day to take samples for about a month . Back at the university , I began putting samples from various springs into test tubes with different kinds of media and incubated them at a high temperature . Nothing happened for three or four days until I picked one up and swirled it and little crystals came up off the bottom .
I thought little of it until a couple of days later when the crystals looked slightly different . I put some under a slide and suddenly saw all these worms of bacteria crawling around . Even now , I get goosebumps thinking about seeing that under the microscope . I realized I was the first person in the world to see the organism we eventually named Thermus aquaticus . Out of that came a couple of papers , which ended up getting me into UCSD for graduate school , where my roommate was headed .
What do you recall from your UC San Diego days ? I was there as a graduate student for six years , working with Bill Loomis , who had started as a faculty member about three or four years before I arrived . When I finished my PhD in biology , I actually went to L . A . to try out acting . I did some commercials , but I really missed science and I realized how fulfilling it was . So I came back and did a postdoc in the department of medicine and then a few in neuroscience until 1988 , when I came to where I am now at Sanford Burnham Prebys , then called the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation .
What do you do there ? A lot of what I did as a graduate student put me in an area called glycobiology — the study of the biology and chemistry of sugar chains that are added to proteins . Over time , I happened to meet folks with kids who were affected by rare disorders that result from genetic mutations in one of the hundreds of steps needed to make sugar chains . So even without being medically trained , I found I could actually help these families . In fact , I make great use of PCR to get down to the specifics of where there are mutations , what the genes are , and determining what therapies might help . We then bring the results from these cases back to the lab to understand the basis of that therapy and why it works or not , in order to better inform our overall concepts . In all , I ’ d say our lab has probably helped at least 350 or more patients .
Taq has since forever impacted DNA science — how does that feel ? I mean , who ever thought anything like that could happen ? I ’ ve always viewed myself as a basic science guy — someone who ’ s just curious . That curiosity and fascination is oftentimes why people do science , and many times , just that is enough . But it ’ s amazing when you think of all that has been changed by PCR , and CRISPR too . My feeling is that if you discover something , you discovered it because the rest of the scientific enterprise enabled you to do so . And it ’ s extremely fulfilling to have given something back to that enterprise so that others can utilize it and end up giving back to the whole world in a very profound way .
What do you love about science and the work you do now ? I ’ m still infatuated with the idea that you never know what ’ s going to be around the corner . There ’ s organization and planning and foresight in experiments , of course , but I really live for those serendipitous events that can really be life-changing , whether in discovery science or just meeting people who you may be able to help . It ’ s amazing as well to learn from those people in the course of your work . They end up giving back to the process as well . It ’ s just this big circle — we all do this together .
Speaking of circles , have you been back to Yellowstone ? In 2007 , I went back to the park for the first time since I went with Tom Brock . I visited the spring and brought the same picture of it that was taken in 1966 . And even then , over 40 years later , it was the same spring — nothing had changed , really . I walked about 50 yards away and was sitting down when a couple walked by looking at a map and they asked , “ Excuse me , we think that somewhere around here is the hot spring where that one bacteria was discovered . Do you have any idea where that might be ?” I said , “ Oh , yeah — I ’ m pretty sure it ’ s right over there .”
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