Kary Mullis, a self-proclaimed non-specialist, won the Nobel
Prize for developing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a
technique that allows researchers to quickly and cheaply make
many copies of single strands of DNA. For the past decade Mullis
has been using PCR to create new types of drugs that could soon
provide a cure for everything from malaria to anthrax. He tells
Seed how he is bridging the gap between disparate scientific
fields to devise a radical new way to combat infectious
diseases. Seed: Why do we need to rethink the way we treat
infectious diseases? Kary Mullis: Many pathogens are becoming
resistant to our antibiotics. Consider penicillin, for example.
We took it from a fungus that grew in the soil and killed
bacteria for food. Because of this warfare, some bacteria had
developed a resistance via DNA, to penicillin. Over time, they
passed this resistance via DNA up to the pathogens that infect
our bodies. So now many organisms—like Staphylococcus aureu, the
cause of Staph infections—are, in l