Sir Alec Jeffries is the British geneticist who discovered the DNA fingerprint two decades ago. His accidental revelation made it possible to identify people by detecting variations in their genes, changing forensic science, criminal justice and paternity cases around the world. Jeffries is a research professor at the University of Leicester.
MICHELE NORRIS, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.  I'm Michele Norris.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And I'm Robert Siegel.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: In London, forensic experts are still working round the clock to identify      all of the 54 people who were killed in last week's bombings.  So far      they've identified 41 bodies.  When we report on stories such as that      one, we take for granted the idea that peoples' bodies can be identified      with certainty, not just by their clothing or by their fingerprints, but      by their DNA.  We can also link criminals to victims or to evidence and      we can link people to their biological relatives.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: All this began just over 20 years ago in England.  Recently, I spoke with      the man who discovered the DNA fingerprint.  He is Sir Alec Jeffries.  He      was subsequently knighted for his work.  He is a geneticist at the      University of Leicester, just as he was in 1984 when he was conducting a      DNA experiment that had nothing to do with identifying individuals.</s>Sir ALEC JEFFRIES (University of Leicester): The last thing on my mind      was identification and forensics and paternity cases and all the rest of      it.  What we were interested in doing back in those early days of human      molecular genetics was just trying to find out some basic information      about inherited variation in our DNA.  And it was purely by accident in      those studies that we generated, totally out of the blue, what proved to      be the very first DNA fingerprint.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Hmm.</s>Sir ALEC: And that emerged.  I remember it very clearly.  This was a      real eureka moment.  It happened at 5 past 9 on the morning of Monday,      the 10th of September, 1984.  That was the--that split second in time      when my life completely and utterly changed.  So that very first DNA      fingerprint, which I can see in front of me right now on the wall of my      office--I still have the original--a very murky, grubby bit of X-ray      film.  On that we could see what appeared to be pretty variable and      informative patterns of DNA.  Purely by chance, we had a family group on      there, one of my technicians and a mother and father.  Not only could we      tell those three people apart, but we could see how the technician's      pattern was a composite of some of mum's and some of dad's characters.</s>Sir ALEC: And on that very first test, we just had a set of DNAs plotted at random      really.  So we had not only people, but I think a mouse and a rat.  We      had a baboon.  We had a cow.  We even had tobacco, believe it or not.      And, to my amazement, not only did this work on people, it worked on      absolutely everything else as well.  It was--having seen this very first      pattern, the penny dropped almost immediately.  Within a minute I      suddenly realized, `Wait a minute.  We're looking here, potentially, at      DNA-based biological identification.'</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Now this eureka moment, you had discovered something that you      had not set out to discover?</s>Sir ALEC: Absolutely not.  And I think if we had been charged with the      task of inventing DNA fingerprinting--let's suppose some remarkably      prescient funding agency two years previously had said, `OK, come up with      a method for individualizing people using their DNA,' we would have been      totally stumped. We wouldn't have known where to go.  And this happens      all too often in science.  The basic discoveries then lead either      directly or after a while to applications, but the driver behind the      discovery is basic scientific curiosity, but not a desire to solve a      particular medical or social problem. And that was certainly true for DNA      fingerprinting.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: The first great arena of applying your discovery was forensic      and also establishing paternity.  I guess it remains as such today.</s>Sir ALEC: My feeling was that, yeah, this might have a specialist niche      and will probably take 10 years before it's ever moved into real      casework.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  Our first case--and this was      following publicity of our first scientific paper on this--the write-up      in one of the national newspapers in England was spotted by a lawyer who      was representing a family trapped in an immigration dispute.  So not      paternity, not a criminal case; this is an immigration dispute.  And, in      fact, it was that case that we were asked to take on, which we did, which      represented the very first time ever that DNA was ever used to sort out a      problem of that sort.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: This was a boy from Ghana?</s>Sir ALEC: That's exactly right.  Yeah.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And the question that you answered with DNA was?</s>Sir ALEC: Well, the problem was that this family originally from      Ghana--they were UK citizens--the youngest boy in the family went back to      Ghana and then returned after a while to the UK on a passport that had      been tampered with. So as he came back into the UK, this was picked up by      the immigration authorities and the assumption was that the returning boy      was a substitute either for a boy unrelated to the family or for one of      the mother's nephews. So when we set out on this, I thought this is      mission impossible.  We'll never do this.</s>Sir ALEC: We did the DNA fingerprinting and the results suggest--I mean, absolutely      stunning.  I was amazed.  Basically, we used three undisputed children in      that family to reconstruct the DNA fingerprint of the missing father and      then show for the boy in dispute that every genetic characteristic      matched either mum or the missing dad.  So we could rule out even the      possibility that he was a nephew rather than the son to this woman with      better than 99.999 whatever percent certainty.  So that's what really      started the whole story.  That was the very first case.  And a happy      outcome:  The British authorities dropped the case against the boy.  He      was allowed back permanently into the UK as a UK citizen, and the family      was held together.  Wonderful story.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: When the penny dropped and when it was clear to you that each of      us, indeed, could be identified by something about our DNA and it could      identify our relations to other people, did you think, `Oh, brave new      world, life is going to get a lot better as a result of this.  Or      I've--there's a genie that just got out of a bottle that poses great harm      to humanity.'  What did you think?</s>Sir ALEC: I don't think I thought too much about that.  I mean, I think      I was much more concerned would anybody take a blind bit of notice in the      work that we were doing.  Once the genie was out of the bottle, what it      was being used for--for example, our immigration disputes.  This is a      family threatened with being broken apart by a immigration dispute that      we brought back together. Shortly after that, we were inundated with      similar requests.  Many, many families in the UK trapped in exactly the      same sort of problem.  This was science very clear societal good.  And so      that, in a way, sort of reassured me that this was science where      the--yeah, I mean, all technology has an upside and a downside.  The      upside on this was strong; the downside was vague concerns where in the      future possibly about Big Brother, civil liberties and all the rest.      But, I think, if you look back then and look now at the totality of      forensic DNA testing, it's absolutely for the good.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Well, Professor Alec Jeffries, Sir Alec Jeffries, thank you very      much for talking with us today.</s>Sir ALEC: It was my pleasure talking.  Thank you.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Alec Jeffries is a professor of genetics.  He spoke with us from      his lab at the University of Leicester.  His discovery of the DNA      fingerprint two decades ago made DNA profiling and testing possible.</s>MICHELE NORRIS, host: This is NPR, National Public Radio.