Title: STAR WORMS: Sydney Brenner and the Transformation of Biology
Invited Speaker: Chun-Liang Pan, M.D., Ph.D. (National Taiwan University Institute of Molecular Medicine)
Editors: 簡思音 林昇鴻 黃柏誠
大綱與新知
The 20th century is the transformative era of science; where the fidelity of traits and the variation of traits, introduced by Gregory Mendel and Charles Darwin respectively were trailblazing science. During the mid-1900s, Sydney Brenner viewed the DNA model made by Watson and Crick and decided that his future scientific life started at that moment.
Dr. Pan’s talk was mainly about Sydney Brenner, and his contribution to Molecular Biology through deciphering the genetic code, identifying the mRNA, and protein translation. He also paved the way into understanding how the genetic code is read, and how it goes from genes to the brain. Like the Rosetta Stone—the pivotal key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs, he made it a point that choosing the right tool (organism) is also as important as finding the right problem. And the model organism he selected is the Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), as it is, to name a few, easy to grow, 1mm long, and tough and resilient. C. elegans also holds many “firsts” and “onlys”, such as being the first species with the whole genome sequenced and micro-RNAs to be identified, the only species with all cells lineaged and mapped, and whose neuroanatomy is completely EM-reconstructed and more.
Going back to Sydney Brenner’s initial question of how we go from genes to the brain, he and his team developed “The Wiring Diagram” where they mapped out “The Mind of a Worm”. From that, we now have the C. elegans community which expanded internationally, and certain development of genetics. All throughout S. Brenner’s life, though he still actively involved himself in research, he also devoted his time to his family. He shared much about his experiences as a scholar and his reflections as a curious scientist.
In Dr. Pan’s talk today, he encouraged us to stay enthusiastic and keep thinking creatively. Just like what Sydney Brenner said, “One good thing about being young is that you don’t know… people like me are no good in science anymore. I know too much, but young people who don’t know enough will try, they will look things in a different way.” All the great things and important technological progress were often created by either single individuals or very small groups, and the most precious characteristic they possess is that they never give up and they stay being challenged. So, “Why stay at home and be miserable, when you can come to the lab, and be miserable?” — Sydney Brenner