Working at the interface

Abstract

Peter B. Dervan started studying DNA through the lens of organic chemistry before the tools for sequencing and synthesizing it existed. He embraced risk and laid the groundwork for what became the field of chemical biology. Dervan’s team twice discovered ways to recognize specific DNA sequences—first in the minor groove and then in the major groove. In addition to his research, he helped found Gilead Sciences, served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Welch Foundation for 33 years, and was a trustee of Yale University. In 1975, Peter B. Dervan, then an assistant professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, switched his research focus from physical organic chemistry to DNA. That doesn’t sound remarkable unless you realize what tools weren’t available at the time. There was no easy way to synthesize DNA and no easy way to sequence it. There wasn’t even a high resolution crystal structure