- 6000 BC Yeast was used to make beer by Sumerians and Babylonians.
- 4000 BC The Egyptians discovered how to bake leavened bread using yeast.
- 420 BC Socrates (470? – 399 BC), the Greek philosopher, speculated on why children don’t always resemble their parents.
- 320 BC Aristotle (384 – 322 BC), told his students that all inheritance comes from the father.
- 1000 AD Hindus observed that certain diseases may “run in the family.” Spontaneous Generation is the dominant explanation that organisms arise from non-living matter. Maggots, for example, were supposed to arise from horsehair.
- 1630 AD William Harvey concluded that plants and animals alike reproduce in a sexual manner:–egg isolated in 1800’s
- 1660-1675 AD Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) in this period used a microscope to study blood circulation in capillaries, described the nervous system as bundles of fibers connected to the brain by the spinal cord.
- 1673 AD Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723), He was the first scientist to describe protozoa and bacteria and to recognize that such microorganisms might play a role in fermentation.
- 1701 nGiacomo Pylarini in Constantiople practiced “inoculation”–intentionally giving children smallpox to prevent a serious case later in life. Inoculation will compete with “vaccination”–an alternative method that uses cowpox rather than smallpox as the protecting treatment–for a century. Gave too much and some children died
- 1809 Nicolas Appert devised a technique using heat to can and sterilize food
- 1827 The worldwide search for the elusive mammalian egg ended with the first observation of canine eggs. Remember 1630 and William Harvey
- 1850 Ignaz Semmelweis used epidemiological observations to propose the hypothesis that childbed fever can be spread from mother to mother by physicians. He tested the hypothesis by having physicians wash their hands after examining each patient. He became despised by the medical profession and lost his job.
- 1856 nKarl Ludwig discovered a technique for keeping animal organs alive outside the body, by pumping blood through them.
- In contrast to the ideas of Justis Liebig, Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) asserted that microbes are responsible for fermentation.
- 1859 Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) hypothesized that animal populations adapt their forms over time to best exploit the environment, a process he referred to as “natural selection.” As he traveled in the Galapagos Islands, he observed how the finch’s beaks on each island were adapted to their food sources.
- 1863 Louis Pasteur invented the process of pasteurization, heating wine sufficiently to inactivate microbes (that would otherwise turn the “vin” to “vin aigre” or “sour wine”) while at the same time not ruining the flavor of the wine.
- Anton de Bary proved that a fungus causes potato blight. A challenge for scientists during this period was to discern whether a microbe was the cause of, or the result of, a disease.
- 1865 Gregor Mendel (1822 – 1884), an Augustinian monk, presented his laws of heredity to the Natural Science Society in Brunn, Austria. Mendel proposed that invisible internal units of information account for observable traits, and that these “factors” – which later became known as genes – are passed from one generation to the next. Mendel’s work remained unnoticed, languishing in the shadow of Darwin’s more sensational publication from five years earlier, until 1900, when Hugo de Vries, Erich Von Tschermak, and Carl Correns published research corroborating Mendel’s mechanism of heredity.
- Pasteur investigated silkworm disease and established that diseases can be transmitted from one animal to another.
- Joseph Lister began using disinfectants such as phenol (=carbolic acid) in wound care and surgery as Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease
- 1868 Davaine used heat treatment to cure a plant of bacterial infection.
- Fredrich Miescher, a Swiss biologist, successfully isolated nuclein, a compound that includes nucleic acid, from pus cells obtained from discarded bandages. n1870
- W. Flemming discovered mitosis.
- 1871 DNA was isolated from the sperm of trout found in the Rhine River.
- 1873-6 nRobert Koch investigated anthrax and developed techniques to view, grow, and stain organisms. He then photographed them, aided by Gram, Cohn, and Weigart.
- 1880 nStudying fowl cholera, Pasteur published his work on “attenuated” or weakened strains of organisms that could not cause disease but protected against severe forms of the same disease.
- 1881 ANTRAX nRobert Koch described bacterial colonies growing on potato slices, on gelatin medium, and on agar medium. Nutrient agar became a standard tool for obtaining pure cultures and for identifying genetic mutants. This is considered by T.D. Brock to be the single most important discovery in the rise of microbiology.
- Pasteur used attenuation to develop vaccines against the bacterial pathogens of fowl cholera and anthrax; this was a founding moment in immunology and opened new areas in the field of preventive medicine.
- 1884 ROBERT KOCH STATED HIS “POSTULATES” FOR TESTING WHETHER A MICROBE IS THE CAUSAL AGENT OF A DISEASE.
- Pasteur developed a rabies vaccine.
- Christian Gram described the differential staining technique for bacteria known as the Gram stain.
- Gregor Mendel died after 41 years of meticulously studying the heredity “factors” of pea plants. Having received no scientific acclaim during his lifetime, he said not long before his death, “My time will come.”
- 1900 – 1953 – Converging on DNA n1900 MENDEL’S WORK FINALLY TOOK ON IMPORTANCE The science of genetics was finally born when Mendel’s work was rediscovered by three scientists – Hugo DeVries, Erich Von Tschermak, and Carl Correns – each one independently researching scientific literature for precedents to their own “original” work.
- 1902 HUMAN GENETICS BORN nWalter Stanborough Sutton stated that chromosomes are paired and may be the carriers of heredity. He suggested that Mendel’s “factors” are located on chromosomes.
- 1905 X AND Y CHROMOSOMES RELATED TO GENDER Edmund Wilson and Nellie Stevens proposed the idea that separate X and Y chromosomes determine sex. They showed that a single Y chromosome determines maleness, and two copies of the X chromosome determine femaleness.
- 1905-1908 William Bateson and Reginald Crudell Punnett, along with others, demonstrated that some genes modify the action of other genes.
- 1906 Paul Erlich investigated atoxyl compounds and discovered the beneficial properties of Salvarsan – the first chemotherapeutic agent.
- 1907 Thomas Hunt Morgan began his work with fruit flies that will prove that chromosomes have a definite function in heredity, establish mutation theory, and lead to a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of heredity.
- 1909 MENDEL’S LAWS TO ANIMALS Wilhelm Johannsen coined the terms ‘gene’ to describe the carrier of heredity; ‘genotype’ to describe the genetic constitution of an organism; and ‘phenotype’ to describe the actual organism, which results from a combination of the genotype and the various environmental factors
- 1910 BASIS OF MODERN GENETICS Thomas Hunt Morgan proved that genes are carried on chromosomes, establishing the basis of modern genetics. With his co-workers, he pinpointed the location of various fruit fly genes on chromosomes, establishing the use of Drosophila fruit flies to study heredity..
- 1911 Thomas Hunt Morgan explained the separation of certain inherited characteristics that are usually linked as caused by the breaking of chromosomes sometimes during the process of cell division. Morgan began to map the positions of genes on chromosomes of the fruit fly.
- 1912 Lawrence Bragg discovered that X-rays can be used to study the molecular structure of simple crystalline substances. 1918 nHerbert M. Evans found (incorrectly) that human cells contain 48 chromosomes.
- 1924 EUGENICS IN THE UNITED STATESPoliticians encouraged by the eugenics movement passed the U.S. Immigration Act of 1924, limiting the influx of poorly educated immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe on the grounds of suspected genetic inferiority
- 1926 nThomas Hunt Morgan published ‘The theory of the gene’, the culmination of work on the physical basis for Mendelian genetics based on breeding studies and optical microscopy.
- 1926 Hermann Muller discovered that X-rays induce genetic mutations in fruit flies 1,500 times more quickly than under normal circumstances. This discovery provided researchers with a way to induce mutations, an important tool for discovering what genes do on their own.
- 1928 Fredrick Griffiths noticed that a rough type of bacterium changed to a smooth type when an unknown “transforming principle” from the smooth type was present. Sixteen years later, Oswald Avery identified that “transforming principle” as DNA.
- 1928 Alexander Fleming noticed that all the bacteria in a radius surrounding a bit of mold in a petrie dish had died. The age of penicillin thus began, although it would be almost 15 years before it was made available to the community for medicinal use.
- 1938 Proteins and DNA were studied in various labs with X-ray crystallography. The term “molecular biology” was coined.
- 1941 ONE GENE ONE ENZYME George Beadle and Edward Tatum experimented with Neurospora, a mold that grows on bread in the tropics, developing the “one-gene-one-enzyme” hypothesis: each gene is translated into an enzyme to perform tasks within an organism.
- 1943 The Rockefeller Foundation, collaborating with the Mexican government, initiated the Mexican Agricultural Program. This was the first use of plant breeding as foreign aid.
- 1943-1953 Cortisone was first manufactured in large amounts. KIND OF A FIRST BIOTECH PRODUCT
- 1944 Waksman isolated streptomycin, an effective antibiotic for TB
- 1945 The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was formed in Quebec, Canada.
- 1945 – 1950 CELLS GROWN IN LAB Isolated animal cell cultures were grown in laboratories.
- 1947 nBarbara McClintock first reported on “transposable elements” – known today as “jumping genes.” The scientific community failed to appreciate the significance of her discovery at the time.
- 1950Erwin Chargaff found that in DNA the amounts of adenine and thymine are about the same, as are the amounts of guanine and cytosine. These relationships are later known as “Chargaff’s Rules” and serve as a key principle for Watson and Crick in assessing various models for the structure of DNA
- 1953 – 1976: Expanding the Boundaries of DNA Research nThe discovery of the structure of DNA resulted in an explosion of research in molecular biology and genetics, paving the way for the biotechnology revolution.
- 1953 Nature magazine published James Watson’s and Francis Crick’s manuscript describing the double helix structure of DNA
- 1953 Gey developed the HeLa human cell line. HENRIETTA LACKS- DIED IN 1951 OF CERVICAL CANCER- MOTHER OF 5- HER CELLS FIRST SHOWN TO GROW OUTSIDE THE BODY FOR EXTENDED PERIODS- USED TO DEVELOP THE POLIO VACCINE
- 1957 CENTRAL DOGMA OF DNA- HOW DNA MAKES A PROTEIN Francis Crick and George Gamov worked out the “central dogma,” explaining how DNA functions to make protein.
- 1959 nFrancois Jacob and Jacques Monod established the existence of genetic regulation – mappable control functions located on the chromosome in the DNA sequence – which they named the repressor and operon
- 1962 Watson and Crick shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with Maurice Wilkins. Unfortunately, Rosalind Franklin, whose work greatly contributed to the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA, died before this date, and the Nobel Prize rules do not allow a prize to be awarded posthumously
- 1966 The genetic code was “cracked”. Marshall Nirenberg, Heinrich Mathaei, and Severo Ochoa demonstrated that a sequence of three nucleotide bases (a codon) determines each of 20 amino acids.
- 1967 Arthur Kornberg conducted a study using one strand of natural viral DNA to assemble 5,300 nucleotide building blocks. Kornberg’s Stanford group then synthesized infectious viral DNA.
- 1970 ONCOGENES Peter Duesberg and Peter Vogt, virologists at UCSF, discovered the first oncogene in a virus. This SRC gene has since been implicated in many human cancers
- 1972 FIRST RECOMBINANT DNA MOLECULE nPaul Berg isolated and employed a restriction enzyme to cut DNA. Berg used ligase to paste two DNA strands together to form a hybrid circular molecule. This was the first recombinant DNA molecule.
- 1972 NIH GUIDELINES FOR RECOMBINANT DNA In a letter to Science, Stanford biochemist Paul Berg and others called for the National Institutes of Health to enact guidelines for DNA splicing.. Their concerns eventually led to the 1975 Asilomar Conference
- 1973 AMES TEST Bruce Ames, a biochemist at UC Berkeley, developed a test to identify chemicals that damage DNA. The Ames Test becomes a widely used method to identify carcinogenic substances.
- 1975 RECOMBINANT DNA MORITORIUM A moratorium on recombinant DNA experiments was called for at an international meeting at Asilomar, California, where scientists urged the government to adopt guidelines regulating recombinant DNA experimentation. The scientists insisted on the development of “safe” bacteria and plasmids that could not escape from the laboratory
- 1976 J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus, virologists at UCSF, showed that oncogenes appear on animal chromosomes, and alterations in their structure or expression can result in cancerous growth.
- 1976 The NIH released the first guidelines for recombinant DNA experimentation. The guidelines restricted many categories of experiments.
- 1977 – Present: The Dawn of Biotech nGenetic engineering became a reality when a man-made gene was used to manufacture a human protein in a bacteria for the first time. Biotech companies and universities were off to the races, and the world would never be the same again. In 1978, in the laboratory of Herbert Boyer at the University of California at San Francisco, a synthetic version of the human insulin gene was constructed and inserted into the bacterium Escheria coli. Since that key moment, the trickle of biotechnological developments has become a torrent of diagnostic and therapeutic tools, accompanied by ever faster and more powerful DNA sequencing and cloning techniques.
- 1977 Genentech, Inc., reports the production of the first human protein manufactured in a bacteria: somatostatin, a human growth hormone-releasing inhibitory factor. For the first time, a synthetic, recombinant gene was used to clone a protein. Many consider this to be the advent of the Age of Biotechnology
- 1978 RECOMBINANT INSULIN Genentech, Inc. and The City of Hope National Medical Center announced the successful laboratory production of human insulin using recombinant DNA technology
- 1980 PATENTS ALLOWED The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in that genetically altered life forms can be patented a Supreme Court decision in 1980 allowed the Exxon oil company to patent an oil-eating microorganism. n
- 1980 Kary Mullis and others at Cetus Corporation in Berkeley, California, invented a technique for multiplying DNA sequences in vitro by, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION
- 1982 Genentech, Inc. received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market genetically engineered human insulin. 1982 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the first genetically engineered drug, a form of human insulin produced by bacteria.
- 1982 Michael Smith at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, developed a procedure for making precise amino acid changes anywhere in a protein.
- 1983 Eli Lilly received a license to make insulin.
- 1985 Genetic fingerprinting enters the court room. Cal Bio cloned the gene that encodes human lung surfactant protein, a major step toward reducing a premature birth complication.
- 1985 Genetically engineered plants resistant to insects, viruses, and bacteria were field tested for the first time.
- 1985 The NIH approved guidelines for performing experiments in gene therapy on humans.
- 1986 The FDA granted a license for the first recombinant vaccine (for hepatitis) to Chiron Corp.
- 1986 The EPA approved the release of the first genetically engineered crop, gene-altered tobacco plants.
- 1987 Calgene, Inc. received a patent for the tomato polygalacturonase DNA sequence, used to produce an antisense RNA sequence that can extend the shelf-life of fruit.
- 1988 Harvard molecular geneticists Philip Leder and Timothy Stewart awarded the first patent for a genetically altered animal, a mouse that is highly susceptible to breast cancer.
- 1990 UCSF and Stanford University were issued their 100th recombinant DNA patent license. By the end of fiscal 1991, both campuses had earned $40 million from the patent.
- 1990 The first gene therapy takes place, on a four-year-old girl with an immune-system disorder called ADA deficiency. The therapy appeared to work, but set off a fury of discussion of ethics both in academia and in the media.
- 1990 The Human Genome Project, the international effort to map all of the genes in the human body, was launched. Estimated cost: $13 billion.
- 1990 Formal launch of the international Human Genome Project.
- 1990 Publication of Michael Crichton’s novel Jurassic Park, in which bioengineered dinosaurs roam a paleontological theme park; the experiment goes awry, with deadly results
- 1992 The U.S. Army begins collecting blood and tissue samples from all new recruits as part of a “genetic dog tag” program aimed at better identification of soldiers killed in combat.
- 1993 Kary Mullis won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for inventing the technology of polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
- 1994 The first genetically engineered food product, the Flavr Savr tomato, gained FDA approval. The first crude but thorough linkage map of the human genome appears
- 1995 A new coalition of mainstream religions launched a campaign seeking to overturn current laws allowing the patenting of genes used for medical and research applications. The group also includes Jeremy Rifkin, the controversial and outspoken critic of the biotechnology industry. SHOULD PATENTS BE ALLOWED?
- 1996 A new inexpensive diagnostic biosensor test for the first time allow instantaneous detection of the toxic strain of E. coli E. coli strain 0157:H7, the bacteria responsible for several recent food-poisoning outbreaks. CAN IT BE DONE FOR ANTRAX OR OTHER BIOTERRORISM AGENTS? nThe discovery of a gene associated with Parkinson’s disease provides an important new avenue of research into the cause and potential treatment of the debilitating neurological ailment.
- 1996 Surveys indicate the public regards research into the workings of the human genome and gene therapy with a combination of fear and mistrust
- 1997 Researchers at Scotland’s Roslin Institute report that they have cloned a sheep–named Dolly–from the cell of an adult ewe. Polly the first sheep cloned by nuclear transfer technology bearing a human gene appears later. Nuclear transfer involves transferring the complete genetic material (the DNA contained in a nucleus) from one cell into an unfertilized egg cell whose own nucleus has been removed.
- 1998 Two research teams succeed in growing embryonic stem cells, the long sought grail of molecular biology. nScientists at Japan’s Kinki University clone eight identical calves using cells taken from a single adult cow. nA rough draft of the human genome map is produced, showing the locations of more than 30,000 genes.
- 1999 MAD COW DISEASEA new medical diagnostic test will for the first time allow quick identification of BSE/CJD a rare but devastating form of neurologic disease transmitted from cattle to humans.