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What was the most significant discovery made in the field of molecular biology in the last 5 yrs?

A member of my PhD advising committe just asked me this question. What do you think? The answer could apply to genetics, medicine, microbiology, etc...any field where molecular biology is used.

Public Comments

1. I think it will end up being siRNA. Although it's been around for a little more than 5 years most of its applications are just being discovered. In the end I think it will end up as a major tool for all branches of biology.
2. wow.. that's a tough one.. so many to choose from. but I'm going to agree with the last poster and say siRNA. another big contender in my opinion is the ability to synthesize peptide nucleic acids.. though, like siRNA that is more than 5 years old, its repercussions are only starting to be felt today.
3. I Think RNA interference (also called "RNA-mediated interference", abbreviated RNAi) ...it is a mechanism for RNA-guided regulation of gene expression in which double-stranded ribonucleic acid inhibits the expression of genes with complementary nucleotide sequences. The selective effect of RNAi on gene expression makes it a valuable research tool in cell culture and in living organisms synthetic dsRNA introduced into cells can induce suppression of specific genes of interest
4. RNAi (RNA interference) is a natural process for turning off genes. It is also seen as a basis for a promising new class of drugs, which could potentially treat everything from cancers to infectious disease by enlisting a biological process to silence genes that produce disease-causing proteins.