Wikipedia

Draft:Alice Chien

  • Comment: The "discovery" paper has ~350 cites. While this is significant, it is not enough by itself to demonstrate notability. Unfortunately her name is too common so I cannot search for her pubs, you need to find a way to indicate her citations. Any major awards? Ldm1954 (talk) 13:53, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Alice Chien is a Chinese neuroscientist. She is professor at the Institute of Neuroscience of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Her most important find is the thermostable DNA polymerase,Taq. Chien's discovery laid the foundation for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), since the heat stability of Taq allows artificial DNA polymerisation at high temperatures during PCR cycles.[1] The PCR method greatly amplifies the quantity of short segments of DNA, and is the core technology of Covid-19 testing by PCR.[2]

Career

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Alice Chien studied Cell biology at the University of Cincinnati, USA and obtained a Master's degree. She went on to acquire her Ph.D. in molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Iowa State University, USA. After her PhD, Chien held a post-doctoral research position in microbiology at the School of Medicine, East Carolina University, from 1981 to 1982.[3] Chien is currently a professor at the Institute of Neuroscience at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan where she studies neural gene functions.

Research

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Alice Chien discovered the Taq polymerase in samples collected from Yellowstone National Park while she was a Master's student at the University of Cincinnati, USA.[4][5] Chien purified the Taq DNA polymerase from a culture of the extreme thermophile Thermus aquaticus. She examined Taq polymerase's major enzymatic functions, and discovered that it is a DNA polymerase free from phosphomonoesterase, phosphodiesterase and single-stranded exonuclease activities.[4]

Chien's research also investigated in detail the optimum conditions for Taq polymerase to function, and found the optimum temperature of DNA replication, the optimum pH, and that Mg2+ is a cofactor for its function. [4] In the 1980s, with the invention of PCR methods for DNA sequencing, the utility of the Taq DNA polymerase was realised. The use of Taq DNA polymerase simplified laboratory procedures, because the enzymes no longer needed to be replenished after each PCR cycle, the elevated operating temperatures increased the sensitivity of PCR for detecting rare target sequences.[6]

In her recent research, Chien uses transgenic and knockout mice, to investigate adrenoceptor subtype genes Adra2b and Adra2c encoding a2B and a2C adrenoceptors, and their downstream pathway functions in brain areas such as the temporal cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum. She also investigates the immortalization and characterization of neural cell lines. She uses the myelin deficient (msd) rat as a model system for human demyelinating diseases, and established and characterized a clonal oligodendrocyte line CBII.[3]

Honours and awards

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The Taq polymerase enzyme was selected the "Molecule of the Year" in 1989 by Science magazine.[7] In 2021, it was described as "the world's second best molecule of the year" for its role in PCR testing for the coronavirus, Covid-19.[8] In 2024, Taq is still one of the major polymerases used for PCR reactions.[9]

Patent and financial gains

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Chien did not apply for a patent for her research, but her work has earned companies billions of dollars in royalties.[10] Cetus later developed PCR for commercial uses, and received $30 million from Roche in return for the usage of PCR in January, 1989.[11]

Selected Publications

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References

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  1. ^ Ishino, Sonoko; Ishino, Yushizumi (2014). "DNA polymerases as useful reagents for biotechnology – the history of developmental research in the field". Frontiers in Microbiology. 5 (465): 465. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00465. PMC 4148896. PMID 25221550.
  2. ^ Teymouri, Manoucher; Mollazadeh, Samaneh (2021). "Recent advances and challenges of RT-PCR tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19". Pathol Res Pract . 153443 (221). doi:10.1016/j.prp.2021.153443. PMC 8045416. PMID 33930607.
  3. ^ a b Chien, Alice. "Professor Alice Chien". Professor page. Institute of Neuroscience, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Chien A, Edgar DB, Trela JM (1976). "Deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase from the extreme thermophile Thermus aquaticus". Journal of Bacteriology. 127 (3): 1550–7. doi:10.1128/jb.127.3.1550-1557.1976. PMC 232952. PMID 8432.
  5. ^ "Basic science: a key ingredient in innovation". Drug Discovery News.
  6. ^ Innis, M.A.; Myambo, K.B.; Gelfand, D.H.; Brow, M.A.D. "DNA sequencing with Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase and direct sequencing of polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 85: 9436–9440. doi:10.1073/pnas.85.24.9436.
  7. ^ Guyer, Ruth (1989). "The Molecule of the Year". Science. 246 (4937): 1543–1546. doi:10.1126/science.2688087. PMID 2688087.
  8. ^ "The World's Second Best Molecule of the Year". McGill Office for Science and Society.
  9. ^ Bertolo, Alessandro; Valido, Ezra; Stoyanov, Jivko (2024). "Optimized bacterial community characterization through full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing utilizing MinION nanopore technology". BMC Microbiology. 24 (1): 58. doi:10.1186/s12866-024-03208-5. PMC 10870487. PMID 38365589.
  10. ^ Leander, Celeste A.; Whitton, Jeanette (2010). "Bling My Research! A Mock Grant Panel Activity Illustrating the Importance of Basic Research". The American Biology Teacher. 72 (5): 308–310. doi:10.1525/abt.2010.72.5.10. JSTOR 10.1525/abt.2010.72.5.10.
  11. ^ Fore, Joe; Wiechers, Ilse; Cook-Degan, Robert (2006). "The effects of business practices, licensing, and intellectual property on development and dissemination of the polymerase chain reaction: case study". Journal of Biomedical Discovery and Collaboration. 7: 7. doi:10.1186/1747-5333-1-7. PMID 16817955.
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