1. What was most interesting or most confusing about the resources you read about Dr. Chase?2. What can you learn about genetic information from these resources?3. What do these resources tell you about the types of people that do science?4. What new questions do you have after reviewing these resources? What does this tell you about the
types of people who do science?
Scientist Spotlight:
Martha Chase
To help us prepare for what we are about to study in our class, we
are going to explore the work of Martha Chase. Martha Chase was
an American geneticist who contributed to the experimental
confirmation of DNA as the main genetic material for life. After
obtaining her bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster, she
worked along geneticist Alfred Hershey in a historical experiment that
helped to prove that nucleic aids are responsible for containing and
transferring genetic information. Even so, Hershey received the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine while Chase did not. Dr.
Chase is regarded as one of the most influential, yet underappreciated women in science due to her contributions to
fundamental concepts of DNA that led to the establishment of what we know today as molecular
biology. Her research eventually led to future, more popular discoveries, such as that of Watson
and Crick’s (and Rosalind Franklin’s) discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. Martha
Chase suffered of complications from dementia and died of pneumonia at the age of 75 in 2003.
Click the links to learn more about the background of Martha Chase:
https://geneticsunzipped.com/news/2019/3/28/kitchen-aid-martha-chase
Click the links to learn about the scientific work of Martha Chase:
http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/coll/pauling/dna/papers/hershey-independent.html
Instructions for Written Assignment:
After reviewing the background and scientific work of Martha Chase, write a reflection on what
you discovered. You might wish to address some of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What was most interesting to you in reviewing these resources?
What did you learn from these resources about the Hershey-Chase Experiment?
What new questions do you have after reviewing these resources?
What do these resources tell you about the types of people that do science?
About the Author: Daniela Sanchez is an aspiring veterinarian majoring in Zoology at SFSU.
Her goal involves providing free immunizations to pets as well as affordable pet care to
owners who struggle financially.
Source of Scientist Photo:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMartha_Chase&psig=AOvVaw1zds504FVtof4
I1RBkUXYh&ust=1590116970929000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCOC35cH9w-kCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
The Scientist Spotlights Initiative was made possible by NIH Grant #20433000
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