Adrian Hayday: A story of commitment and sacrifice in the laboratory

From a talk by the Professor of immunobiology at King's College London to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA

When Watsom and Crick's double helical structure for DNA emerged from the X-ray crystallography data obtained by Franklin and Wilkins and their colleagues in the MRC Biophysics Unit at King's College, London, it was as if an irrepressible truth had been released.

In some ways, this presented to the next generation of biologists the ultimate fait accompli; the secret of heredity solved, once and for all, by one elegant but unrelenting structure. Just as children do not tend to react well to being handed rigid and inflexible structures by their parents, one might wonder how the scientific children and grandchildren of those pioneers might react to this "gift". Might they give up on biology, thinking that the job was now done, or would they apply the new-found truth with their own astonishing creativity? Thankfully it was the latter. As a result, the past 50 years have seen extraordinary advances in biology and medicine; as impressive in their speed as in their insightfulness.

In 1832 Thomas Hodgkin, along the Thames from King's College, identified an unknown swelling in the glands which became known as Hodgkin's lymphoma. But there was little capacity for treating such white blood cell malignancies until the discovery of the structure of DNA, and the ensuing birth of DNA technology. Such technology allowed scientists to understand the molecular basis of lymphomas and leukaemias, and thereby to open up new avenues for therapy. Thus, 50 years ago only half of those diagnosed with Promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) survived. Now, through the work of investigators such as Dr Ellen Solomon, Professor of Human Genetics at King's College, who have defined the changes in the DNA code that cause PML, more than three-quarters of those afflicted will survive.

DNA is about perpetuity – the secret of passing things on. The solution of its structure was an extraordinary accomplishment but the perpetuation of commitment, motivation and personal sacrifice in the laboratory continues unabated, from one scientific generation to the next.