Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and The Biotech Revolution Review – Excellent, Informative, A Must See
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Wednesday, 08 October 2025 10:26
- Written by Janet Walker
Cracking the Code, from Uncommon Productions, presents an incredible and inspiring story, as we meet Phil Sharp, one of world's most brilliant scientific minds, and witness his journey from the tobacco fields of Kentucky to Nobel Laurent.
Phil Sharp's story begins in a small town, barely marked on the map, in a home with a dirt floor, no running water, in what many would call the backwoods hollers of Kentucky. We are introduced to his family, a father who read voraciously, when he wasn't working the fields, a mother who desperately wanted to go to high school, but it would have meant leaving the family and moving away, leaving her family with a greater burden, and so she was denied a secondary education, and her loss produced a drive in her to ensure her children where as educated as they desired.
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At a young age, Phil's family, during the Great Depression on the 1930s went bankrupt as many did. This led his father to owning a small piece of land and planting tobacco. Farming then, as now, is subject to the elements, a good harvest brings enough for another planting, and leaving in a region prone to damaging weather, the possibility each year of crop destruction was very real.
However, as Phil saw his father read, and driven by his mother, he soon was known for his reading skills and hiding what we now know as dyslexia. Phil could recite the elements of the story, but for many years was unable to read clearly. As we now understand, dyslexia is a lifelong condition, and somehow, Phil was able to train his mind, and continue to read, not allowing what would be the first of many obstacles that could derail success stand in his way.
By high school, he was athletic, and hooked on science, the language of mathematics, which is hidden to most, was his fluency and he was hooked on science. The documentary also explains his desire to conquer when he was told he could not succeed. He explains he tried out for the high school basketball team and was rejected. His father stepped in and asked the coach he Phil could simply train with the team, without playing. Eventually, he did begin to play and laughs as he talks about his still standing record for the most fouls.
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The town leaders approached him, and explained if he would return to this town, they would pay for his college and medical school pursuits. While it seems like a dream come true, Phil explained that since grade school he had been saving for college and wanted to leave this small town, and to commit to a life here was not his vision and he turned it down.
Soon he was on his way. During his first years of college, he met his wife, Anne, who explains that she thought she was marrying a high school chemistry teacher. He earned his B.A. from Union College in Kentucky, and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. . During the late 1960 he arrived in and early 1970s, the nation was in a recession, and he was out of work, facing what may PhD student face, fully educated and no employment.
Phil decided to reach out to a professor at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) where he was invited to become a postdoctoral student. They stayed in California for four years, before returning to the east coast. He studied with James Warson who co-discovered the structure of DNA and was recruited by MIT, where his life as a storied researcher actualized.
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Once the documentary reaches the MIT years, we walk with Phil through the eyes of his postdoctoral students who describe him as someone aware that the next breakthrough is here, somewhere, and it is up to us to find it, and we can. His former students and colleagues speak of his excitement, and essentially he is living his dream. And when one is living his dream, work is never arduous it is a pleasure each day.
His 1977 groundbreaking discovery of RNA splicing rewrote the rules of molecular biology and ignited a life-saving scientific revolution, laying the foundation for an industry that has become a cornerstone of global innovation and economic growth – and transformed the health of billions of patients worldwide.
The documentary also enters the Biotech revolution, and we see even the most noted scholars were reluctant to begin exploration into the fields. However, we also learn more about the advancement of DNA, gene editing, RNA, and most recently RN(ai).
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Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and The Biotech Revolution is a must see. Even if the advancement in sciences, DNA, and gene editing, do not stimulate the interest, Phil Sharp's odyssey, from a farm in Kentucky to the storied halls of MIT, and lauded for discoveries only presented to an elite group of the world's most brilliant, it is an inspirational journey of triumph over circumstance, and embodies the American Dream and the achievement of entrepreneurial spirit.
Cracking the Code, narrated by Mark Ruffalo, is an inspiring story of vision, perseverance, and the power of science to change the world.
Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and The Biotech Revolution, a mesmerizing journey of discovery, engaging, and intriguing, is premiering on PBS' Independent Lens October 6th and is also available on PBS Passport and YouTube. See it.
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Country: USA.
Language: English.
Director: Bill Haney.
Producers: Carina Chavda Mehta, Maura McCarthy Haney.
Executive Producers: R. J. Cutler, Tim Disney, Michael R. & Barbara Lee Eisenson, Reed & Elena Jobs, Sean & Jennifer Eplett Reilly.
Writer: Bill Haney.
Narrator: Mark Ruffalo.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
