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Kjell Kleppe
Kjell Kleppe (1985)
Born	December 9, 1934 Kleppe, Rogaland, Norway
Died	June 18, 1988 (aged 53) Midtun, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway
Alma mater	University of Oslo (B.S.) University of Nebraska (Ph.D.)
Known for	In vitro DNA amplification
Scientific career
Fields	Biochemistry
Institutions	University of Bergen

Kjell Kleppe (December 9, 1934 – June 18, 1988) was a Norwegian biochemist and molecular biologist who was a pioneer in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique and built the first laboratory in the country for bio- and gene technology.

Kleppe earned a bachelor's in chemistry from the University of Oslo (1955–1958) and a Ph.D. in enzymology from the University of Nebraska, USA (1958–1963). Kleppe conducted research at many prestigious universities, including Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and in 1966, he joined the University of Bergen, where he founded Felleslaboratorium for bioteknologi (FLB), the first gene technology laboratory in Norway with Professor Curt Endresen. He became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (DKNVS) in 1984.

Kleppe performed the first PCR experiment in 1969 while working in the laboratory of 1968 Nobel Prize winner, Har Gobind Khorana at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He described the experiment at the 1969 Gordon Conference on Nucleic Acids. Kleppe published the first description of PCR, a process he referred to as repair replication, in the Journal of Molecular Biology in 1971. Like modern PCR, this early iteration used a two-primer system for the exponential replication of a segment of DNA.

Because of his initial discoveries and ideas, PCR can now be applied to forensics, genetics, and diagnostics. Recently, its most notable use is in connection to COVID-19 diagnostics, as it is able to identify bacteria and viruses.

References

1. "Forskning gjennom 30 år". GC Rieber. Archived from the original on 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
2. ^ Borgan, Eldrid (7 October 2020). "A Norwegian's discovery paved the way for the coronavirus tests we use today". Sciencenorway.
3. "Historien før MBI". Universitetet i Bergen (in Norwegian Bokmål).
4. Finstad, Terje (2017). "Naked Gene Salmon: Debating Fish, Genes, and the Politics of Science in the "Age of Publics"". Technology and Culture. 58 (1): 105. doi:10.1353/tech.2017.0003. hdl:11250/2448833.
5. Kaunitz, Jonathan D. (August 2015). "The Discovery of PCR: ProCuRement of Divine Power". Digestive Diseases and Sciences. 60 (8): 2230–2231. doi:10.1007/s10620-015-3747-0. ISSN 0163-2116. PMC 4501591. PMID 26077976.
6. Templeton, Nancy Smyth (1992). "The Polymerase Chain Reaction History Methods, and Applications:". Diagnostic Molecular Pathology. 1 (1): 58–72. doi:10.1097/00019606-199203000-00008. ISSN 1052-9551.
7. Kleppe, K.; Ohtsuka, E.; Kleppe, R.; Molineux, I.; Khorana, H. G. (1971-03-14). "Studies on polynucleotides: XCVI. Repair replication of short synthetic DNA's as catalyzed by DNA polymerases". Journal of Molecular Biology. 56 (2): 341–361. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(71)90469-4. ISSN 0022-2836.

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