History of Biotechnology

Timeline created by 12dsirwin in Science and Technology

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Event Date:	Event Title:	Event Description:
09/21/1600	Cell and Microscope	Robert Hooke introduced the term "cells" and Anton Van Leeuwenhoek observed the first microorganisms because of the invention of the microscope.
09/21/1850	Breeding	Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk working with pea plants, discovered the simple laws of inheritance of traits that allowed one to predict the outcome of crosses with certain traits.
09/21/1857	Fermentation	Lois Pasteur described the scientific basis for fermentation, wine making, and the brewing of beer, established the science of microbiology, and proposed the Germ Theory, claiming that microorganisms were responsible for infectious diseases.
09/22/1869	Nucleic Acid	Johann Miescher found nucleic acid in white blood cells from pus in bandages. This led scientist to believe that DNA might be inherited
09/22/1910	Genes	Thomas Hunt Morgan discovered that genes were on chromosomes.
09/22/1928	Penicillin	Sir Alexander Fleming isolated penicillin from a fungus. We still use his techniques today
09/22/1928	Genetic Material	Fred Griffith proved that genetic material could be moved from one strain of bacteria to another
09/22/1935	DNA	Chargaff showed that in DNA the number adenine equaled those of thymine and the number of units of cytosine equaled those of guanine
09/23/1941	Genes and Enzymes	Beadle and Tatum proposed the “one gene produces one enzyme” hypothesis.
09/23/1944	DNA Transfered	Avery, McCarthy, McLeod established that indeed DNA was the hereditary material that was transferred.
09/23/1953	DNA Structure	Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA.
09/23/1953	Blending	Using their famous “blender experiment” Hershey and Chase proved viruses replicated using DNA and confirmed the role of DNA as the hereditary material.
09/23/1953	Double Helix	Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins established through X-ray crystallography that DNA was indeed a double helix.
09/23/1953	Plasmids	Hayes discovered plasmid DNA, circular pieces of DNA found in bacteria.
09/23/1961	RNA	Walter Gilbert discovered the mechanism of gene expression through his study of messenger RNA.
09/23/1962	DNA Cutting	Arber, Nathans, and Smith discovered bacterial restriction enzymes that cut DNA.
09/23/1966	Codons	Khorana and Nirenberg discovered the 64 codons that code for the 20 amino acids making up proteins.
09/23/1967	Isolation and Purification	DNA plasmids were isolated and purified by Vinograd.
09/23/1970	E. coli	Madel and Higa were responsible for the 1st transformation of bacterium Escherichia coli.
09/23/1972	Cloning	Cloning experiments were conducted by Boyer and Cohen.
09/23/1973	genetic companies	Genentech, the world’s first genetic engineering company, was founded.
09/23/1976	Recumbent DNA	140 scientists met to draw up guidelines for work with recumbent DNA in microorganisms. Paul Berg was key organizer.
09/23/1977	DNA Squencing	Sanger and Gilbert found a way to sequence DNA.
09/23/1978	Synthetic Insulin	Boyer inserted a synthetic insulin gene into E. coli.
09/23/1978	DNA Fingerprint	Botstein found that a person could be identified by the pattern made of one’s DNA. The DNA fingerprint was called a Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism.
09/23/1978	In Vitro Fertilization	Louise Joy Brown was born, the 1st human in vitro fertilization, in which sperm and egg are joined in a petri dish. The fertilized egg is later implanted in a womb.
09/23/1980	Rise in Biotech	The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that genetically altered life forms can be patented. Resulting in a huge startup of biotech companies.
09/23/1980	Transgenic animals	Ohio university scientists made the first transgenic animals.
09/23/1982	Human Insulin gene	Eli Lilly Company placed a human insulin gene inside bacteria.
09/23/1983	PCR	Kary Mullis invented polymerase chain reaction to amplify DNA in the laboratory.
09/23/1983	Gene Tranfers	Schell, Chilton, Van Montagu, Fraley, and Horsch Transformed plants with Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer.
09/23/1985	DNA profiling	Jeffries applied RFLP in DNA profiling to the study of criminal cases.
09/23/1985	Automated Flourescence Sequencer	An automated Flourescence sequencer was invented, speeding up the labor-intense process.
09/23/1985	Gene Gun	Genes were moved into an organism through the use of a gene gun.
09/23/1994	Safety guidlines for Recombinant DNA	NIH revised safety guidelines for Recombinant DNA to include plants grown in greenhouses and animals raised in barns.
09/23/1996	RNA Interference	Andrew Fire and Craig Mello discovered RNA interference, silencing of genes, in worm C. elegans.
09/23/1997	Dolly	Ian Wilmut Cloned Dolly the sheep from an adult cell of a ewe at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.
09/23/1997	YACs	Maynard Olson and colleagues at Washington University Invented “yeast artificial chromosomes,” or YACs, which are expression vector s for large proteins.
09/23/1997	Monoclonal Technology	Kohler, Milstein, and Jerne used monoclonal antibody technology.
09/23/1997	DNA Chip	DNA microarray technology, looking at the expression of all the genes of an organism at one time on a microscope slide or silicon chip, was developed
09/23/1999	Faster Sequencer	Dabiri and Garner invented an automated DNA sequencer that had the capability of sequencing 76,800 base pairs per hour. This greatly sped up Human Genome Project.
09/23/2002	Riboswitch	Ron Breaker coined the term riboswitch for part of an mRNA molecule that can regulate its own activity and therefore gene expression.
09/23/2003	Genome Completion	Announcement was made of the completion of the Human Genome Project by Francis Collins and Craig Venter. The project provided the ability to find genes and gave rise to the sequencing of other genomes.
Timespan Dates:	Timespan Title:	Timespan Description:
09/21/1600 to 09/21/1900	Before DNA
09/21/1900 to 09/21/1970	DNA Science
09/21/1970 to 09/23/2011	Present: Recombent DNA Technology and Beyond