" All children are scientists somehow that gets lost ! "

Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico Dr. Villa Komaroff was a key member of the team that showed for the first time that bacteria could be induced to produce insulin. The research was a milestone in the development of the biotechnology industry. Dr. Villa-Komaroff is one of the women scientists profiled on the White House Office of Science and Technology website. Her achievements go far beyond her award-winning research in the lab

An introduction to Dr. Villa Komaroff

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I of II: Wise words from Dr.  Komaroff

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Author of an influential 1978 paper  that detailed how to produce insulin from bacteria—instead of horse and pig pancreases, which was the leading method at the time—essentially solving the problem of insulin unavailability. Today, most of the world uses insulin made from the recombinant DNA techniques introduced by her team!m.

II of II: What is Recombinant DNA

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is another method that can be used to replicate a specific DNA sequence and create rDNA, which is used to replicate DNA in a laboratory test tube.

As a Mexican-American woman who has had to overcome societal obstacles to attain her professional goals, Dr. Villa-Komaroff has proven that career options within science are boundless. “ When one gets a Ph.D. in a particular discipline…that is a degree that opens worlds and is as spectacular a training for a number of different ways in which one can interact with the world,” she said.

One rewarding aspect of science is the discovery phase, what Dr. Villa-Komaroff called “ the joy of the search.” She has touched countless lives with her insulin-cloning discovery. People with diabetes use recombinant insulin made based on techniques she and her colleagues developed decades ago. But even research that doesn’t immediately have practical implications, she said, “expands the realm of possible for all of us.”

Recombinant DNA, which is often shortened to rDNA, is an artificially made DNA strand that is formed by the combination of two or more gene sequences. This new combination may or may not occur naturally, but is engineered specifically for a purpose to be used in one of the many applications of recombinant DNA. In most cases, rDNA is created in a laboratory setting using a process of molecular cloning. This method allows in vivo DNA replication, in the living cells of the subject.

A cloning vector is a DNA molecule that replicates inside a living cell and is used to form rDNA. The cloning vector is usually a small part of a DNA strand that holds the genetic information that is needed for the replication of cells.