As with so many monumental breakthroughs, it happened by accident. In the summer of 1997, two young research fellows at the University of Cambridge, Shankar Balasubramanian and David Klenerman, were using fluorescent imaging to investigate how cells synthesise DNA. Over a post-lab pint in the city’s Panton Arms, they came up with the idea of using these techniques to improve DNA sequencing instead.

Please click here to view the full article.