Premieres Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / Stream with KPBS+ / Encore Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2
“Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution” is an inspiring story of vision, perseverance, and the power of science to transform modern medicine. The documentary feature chronicles the life and career of Phil Sharp through his groundbreaking RNA biology discovery that redefined how we understand genes and genetic disorders.
The film tracks Sharp’s journey from his early days in a shack with no indoor water or electricity on a Kentucky tobacco farm to winning the Nobel Prize for his discovery of RNA splicing, which kick-started the global biotechnology revolution.
Narrated by Mark Ruffalo and weaving interviews with Nobel laureates into insights from journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson, “Cracking the Code” showcases the ability of a creative thinker with an entrepreneurial passion to transform science globally.
Born into a family that went bankrupt during the Depression, to parents who never attended high school, and challenged with severe dyslexia, Sharp’s determination fueled his path to Caltech and MIT. There, his discovery of how DNA makes RNA would overturn decades of dogma in biology, shed new light on how genes work, and reveal novel insights into the root causes of disease.
Sharp and his colleagues then transformed these insights into life-saving therapies, founding companies that created new treatments for diabetes, multiple sclerosis, leukemia, and countless other diseases, ultimately transforming the world for patients. In 2024, an estimated 7.4 billion people benefited from biotechnology-based drugs—life-saving treatments now central to modern medicine. As of 2025, the biotechnology field employs 4.5 million people globally.
Watch On Your Schedule: “Cracking The Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution” premieres Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV. The film will also be available to stream with KPBS+ a new free streaming video app designed for ease and enjoyment everywhere you watch including Roku, smart TVs and mobile devices. It’s locally curated for San Diego by the KPBS programming team. With a clean and intuitive design, discovering and enjoying KPBS and PBS content on-demand has never been easier.
You can also tune in live to watch our four TV channels in real time: KPBS, KPBS 2, Create, KPBS Kids 24/7. We also added a new channel - FNX (First Nation Experience).
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