November 20, 2017 Monday
Bedtime Story
Gilles Vergnaud and Forensic Microbiology
Until I came across the story of Gilles
Vergnaud, I had no idea that such a field known as forensic microbiology exists
at all in this world.
But then crime has to be fought with
everything that we have, including intelligence and science.
John Edgar Hoover, the American detective
and the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation understood this
very well.
It was under him that FBI was armed with
modernized police technology and got its first forensic laboratories.
Other countries would soon realize the
power of science and follow suit in making it an invaluable asset to fight
crime, especially organized crime that was wide spread in the United States
during the reign of J. Edgar Hoover.
Yes, reign it was and make no mistake about
that gentlemen.
Edgar’s was a reign of terror as even the
top politicians including the Presidents were in fear of him as he had nearly transformed
the FBI into his private secret police force.
Just read what President Harry Truman had
to say on Edgar Hoover:
“…we want no Gestapo or secret police.
The FBI is tending in that direction.
They are dabbling in sex-life scandals and
plain blackmail.
J. Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to
take over, and all congressmen and senators are afraid of him.”
That is why I find it quite amusing that
its counterpart in India the CBI strongly faces the interference of the political
masters, no matter which political party happens to be in power.
CBI has been criticized by the Supreme
Court of India for being a “caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice.”
The task given to Gilles Vergnaud was even
more serious as it required fighting an invisible external enemy that was
invisible.
He was specifically asked to develop new
methods so that source of pathogens could be traced based on their tiny genetic
differences.
This was not Vergnaud’s specialty and so he
joined hands with the Institute of Genetics and Microbiology at Université
Paris-Sud.
It was with them that he started to work
with tandem-repeat polymorphisms.
Threat from external enemies has repeatedly
proven a shot in the arm for scientific research as suddenly out of nowhere
money begins to pour in.
These tandem-repeat polymorphisms or Short
Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis is a vital tool of DNA forensic analysis.
STR is a microsatellite.
You may wonder what on earth a satellite is
doing here in our story on genetics and microbiology.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the International
Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I recommend
this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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