Sorry, It Sort of Leaked

Imagine bringing a group of scientists all the way to England to conduct a series of very sensitve experiments, and them finding the results ruined because one of the tubes the scientists used was contaminated.

Walter Gilbert '53, American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular Biology, found himself in that very position this August, and the University has quickly taken steps to ensure that a similar mishap does not occur again.

Macy Koehlor, University biohazards officer, last week issued a directive asking recombinant DNA researchers to use a more thorough experimental procedure which involves cleaning the glassware in acid to rid it of any DNA remnants.

Gilbert and the team of scientists traveled to England to devise a method to make bacteria produce human insulin, an experiment which can only be performed in Britain because of less stringent regulations.

Insulin is widely used for the treatment of certain diseases, but it is difficult to obtain and expensive now. If Gilbert's experiment had succeeded, he could have extracted insulin more quickly and much more cheaply.

Gilbert and the scientists who accompanied him say the mix-up occurred because a piece of dry rat DNA that was stuck on a glass tube or gel plate apparently mixed with the human genetic material they isolated in preparation for their experiments in England.

Because of this contamination, when the scientists tried to produce the genetic code for human insulin, they wound up with the code for rat insulin instead. The scientists have already successfully cloned rat insulin.

The scientists say they have by no means given up, however, and add they plan to try again in England this January--this time with clean glassware.