Title: The Untold Story of Janet Mertz

In 1972, a graduate student worked out how to easily cut and paste DNA. This breakthrough made genetic engineering possible, and the company that launched the biotech industry was built on it. But she is rarely credited for it.

Her name is Janet Mertz.

I came across her story through Life Recombined, a beautiful short film by the Science Communication Lab, recently published by Aeon Media Group Ltd.

Mertz was the first woman admitted to Stanford’s biochemistry department in nine years. Her insight that the enzyme EcoRI leaves “sticky ends,” enabling any two DNA fragments to be joined, became the foundation of molecular cloning for decades.

But a safety moratorium stopped her just one step from the finish line. A year later, others took that final step. The patent and the company followed, and Mertz did not receive the recognition she deserved.

This story reminded me that brilliance alone does not guarantee recognition. Circumstances and who’s allowed to be seen also decide that. It was true in 1972. It’s worth asking how often it still is.