The decision to focus on chromosoma

The decision to focus on chromosomal DNA in the cell
cycle came about naturally because Bob Uretz and the Committee
on Biophysics at Chicago were renowned for microbeam
irradiation of mitotic chromosomes (Uretz et al., 1954), and
I had already spent many hours observing and filming the
response of newt heart cell chromosomes to UV microbeams.
Furthermore, the surprising paucity of information available on
the cell cycle of bacteria, compared to that of eukaryotes, was
obvious and intriguing. Plus, I could then combine my new
interest in bacterial genetics with the laboratory’s interest in
radiobiology by investigating cell cycle-dependent sensitivity to
photo-inactivation by DNA intercalating agents. It seemed quite
straightforward at the time. To initiate my career in cell cycle
research, all I needed to do was synchronize E. coli and I was off.
How naïve.