HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Dr. Alec Jeffreys, a geneticist who works at the University of Leicester in Great Britain, is credited with the discovery and innovation of DNA fingerprinting. On September 1984, Dr. Jeffreys, studying hereditary diseases in families, was focusing on a way to resolve paternity arguments by trying to show genetic links between individuals. He used what's known as Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) to analyze the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA). Dr. Jeffreys discovered that all individuals had a repetitive pattern of DNA but it varied in length for each individual. He realized that this variation in DNA could be used to find the identity of a person. Upon realizing this, he named his technique "genetic fingerprinting" also known as DNA fingerprinting. Using his technique Dr. Jeffreys was able to prove that each individual has a unique genetic fingerprint with a unique pattern, just like a regular fingerprint, except for identical twins.
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In the above clip Dr. Alec Jeffreys talks about the morning he made his discovery.
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