I was using very unconventional methods to sequence the telemetric DNA, originally.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In my early work, our molecular views of telomeres were first focused on the DNA.
There is a long history of how DNA sequencing can bring certainty to people's lives.
It turns out synthesizing DNA is very difficult. There are tens of thousands of machines around the world that make small pieces of DNA - 30 to 50 letters in length - and it's a degenerate process, so the longer you make the piece, the more errors there are.
I never dreamed that in my lifetime my own genome would be sequenced.
I've always been fascinated by what you can learn from looking into your DNA.
DNA, like a tape recording, carries a message in which there are specific instructions for a job to be done.
What is it that keeps you so interested in the telomere? It's so intricate and complicated, and you want to know how it works.
During this period, I became interested in how the new techniques of cloning and sequencing DNA could influence the study of genetics and I was an early and active proponent of the Human Genome Sequencing Project.
My father and I made genetics history. We were the first African-Americans and the first father and son anywhere to have their genomes sequenced.
Throughout my life, I've had consistent DNA.