The Identification of Nucleic Acids- Miescher and Kossel

Miescher and Kossel

Friedrich Miescher identified ‘nuclein’ in 1869, which is the combination of DNA and associated proteins.

Friedrich Miescher was born into the intellectual elites of Switzerland. His father was a physician that taught anatomy, and his uncle was a renowned embryologist. Miescher excelled in the classroom, despite several challenges with personality and health. Miescher went to medical school following his family traditions, although he had toyed with becoming a priest. He eventually joined the laboratory of Hoppe-Seyler, the first in Germany to focus on the chemistry of tissues in the human body. While many of their colleagues were debating the nature of a ‘cell,’ Hoppe-Seyler and his lab were isolating the fundamental molecules in cells. Miescher was tasked with studying white blood cells and determining their molecular makeup.

White blood cells are produced in the bone marrow and so were very hard to isolate. However, it was noticed that a large quantity of white blood cells was present in the pus from patient infections. So Miescher collected used bandages from the nearby hospital and collected the pus. This ended up being a wonderful and relatively pure source of white blood cells for his research.