Alfred Day Hershey And Chase: The Blender Experiment

Alfred Day Hershey grew up to become a winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1969 for his world changing genetic discovery. In 1952, at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York with his research assistant, Martha Chase, through an experiment, discovered that phage DNA enters the bacterial cell and then directs the cell to produce more bacteriophages. This experiment proved that DNA (deoxyribose nucleic acid) is the genetic material of bacteriophages as well as other organisms, opposed to the prior belief that protein was the genetic material of organisms. This discovery had set the groundwork for modern genetic study, which led to pharmaceutical development and possibilities of genetic enhancements. The study of genetics

“In the early twentieth century biologists thought that proteins carried genetic information. This was based on the belief that proteins were more complex than DNA.” (The Hershey-Chase "Waring Blender Experiment). It all began when Hershey took a job at the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Department of Genetics. “He then accepted a position from the Carnegie Institution of Washington 's Department of Genetics at Cold Spring Harbor. Here he and Martha Chase did the Hershey-Chase blender experiment…” (Concept 18 Bacteria and Viruses Have DNA Too). The experiment proved to be effective and its results were groundbreaking. After the experiment Hershey and Chase had their results. “The experiment showed that when bacteriophages, which are composed of DNA and protein, infect bacteria, their DNA enters the host bacterial cell, but most of their protein does not, confirming that DNA is the hereditary material.” (The Hershey-Chase "Waring Blender Experiment). This was a breakthrough for the field genetics because it ended up influencing many other genetic

It had set the groundwork of modern day genetics by influencing other major discoveries. It had also made its way to influencing pharmaceuticals and the medical field by using information found in those discoveries to come up with methods for creating medicine and cures. The effect of Hershey’s discovery is still impacting our lives today by giving us the possibility of genetic modification through genetic engineering. Hershey’s encounter with this discovery not only impacted the United States of America, but impacted the