The Story of Recombinant DNA with Janet Mertz & Nobel Laureate Paul Berg

In the early 1970s, Janet Mertz and future Nobel Laureate Paul Berg helped spark a revolution in biology, only to confront a question no scientist had faced before: when you can rewrite the code of life, should you? ~About the Film~ In Memory of Paul Berg 1926-2023 In the early 1970s, a period of social, political, and technological upheaval, biology stood on the brink of a revolution that would permanently reshape humanity’s relationship with the natural world. At Stanford University, graduate student Janet Mertz and her mentor, future Nobel Laureate Paul Berg, were asking a radical question: could DNA, the code of life, be manipulated by recombining it in ways billions of years of evolution never had? When their experiments triggered alarm bells within the scientific community and beyond, they chose to pause their work. Meanwhile, other researchers moved forward, efforts that helped launch today’s multi-trillion-dollar biotechnology industry. LIFE RECOMBINED tells the story of this pivotal moment in science and history, and explores the questions it raised about responsibility, who gets to decide, and how we confront the limits of knowledge. #recombinantdna #sciencehistory #biotechnology ~About the Science Communication Lab: Making Science a Part of Everyone’s Story~ From fieldwork to lab breakthroughs, our films and student-centered lesson plans explore how science works, who scientists are, and why science matters in our lives and communities. Join us at https://sciencecommunicationlab.org/ © 2026 Science Communication Lab™. All rights reserved.