LIFE SCIENCES

BY SIMON SILVER
Department of Microbiology
& Immunology
University of Illinois
Chicago, Ill.

" Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a several million-fold increase in template DNA (in a few hours of temperature cycling with a thermo-stable DNA polymerase) has become a powerful tool for both basic and applied molecular biology.

T.J. White, N. Arnheim, H.A. Erlich, “The polymerase chain reaction,” Trends in Genetics, 5, 185-9, June 1989. (Hoffmann-LaRoche, Emeryville, Calif.; Cetus Corp., Emeryville, Calif.; University of Southern California, Los Angeles)

" PCR has been used to demonstrate the occurrence of HIV DNA in 100 times more T cells than previously thought. This strengthens understanding of the pathway from HIV infection to AIDS as a cluster of immune-deficiency diseases.

S.M. Schnittman, M.C. Psallidopoulos, H.C. Lane, L. Thompson, et al., “The reservoir for HIV- I in human peripheral blood is a T cell that maintains expression of...

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