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Carolus Linnaeus
Father of maodern day ecology and, more notably, taxonomy. Taxonomy is the clssifications and naming schemes of all the different oragnisms of Earth. His classification method was divides into three kingdoms, which were then divided into orders, then genera, then species. -
James Hutton
Naturalist who was known as the father of modern geology. He came up with the theory of uniformitarianism, which states that Earth's features are a result of natural processes over time. He theorized that Earth was being perpetually formed and supported the theory of evolution. -
Georges Cuvier
Naturalist who expanded on Linnean Taxonomy and came up with the concept of catastrophism. Catastrophism declared that the exticntion of many pecies were caused by many different catastrophes. This concept was also applied to Earth's geology, an application that was dismissed by the later concept of uniformitarianism. -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Coined the terms for chemistry, meteorology, geology, and botony-zoology and was a major taxonomist. He is most remembered for his theory of soft inheretence. Soft inheretnece states that organisms are able to pass on characterisitcs that they gained in their lifetime to their offspring. -
Chrles Lyell
Geologist who wrote Principle's of Geology His work both supported and argued Hutton's concept of uniformitarianism. He was one of the first men to that the Earth was older than 300 million years and that its still being shaped by the same processes as it was in its early times. -
Gregor Mendel
Father of modern genetics. He conducted experiments on pea plants that led to the founding of many rules of heredity. He explained the existance of alleles, how they can be dominant or recessive, and how they determine the traits of the offspring of an organism. -
Charles Darwin
Traveled around the world studying different species of animals. The similarities in species from all over the world led him to concude that they all must have evolved from a common ancestor. He also came up with the concept of natural selection, in which species that adapt to their eviornment thrive and reproduce while those who fail to adapt eventually die off. -
Stem Cells
Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and produce more stem cells through mitosis. These cells are used to regenerate organs and tissue. Bone marrow transplantation uses stem cells. -
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmeceuticals are used in healthcare to help with diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of a disease. Insulin was the first pharmaceutical using genetically engineered bacteria. It is made from the human genes that codes for insulin and it is cloned in the bacteriuma and large quantities are grown through fermentation for humans with diabetes. -
Avery - MacLeod - McCarty
Conducted an experiment that raised the idea of DNA being the substance that allows bacerial transformation, not protein. In the experiment.the scientists took heat killed pathogenic bacteria strains from Griffith's previous experiment and attempted to infect nonpathogenic bacteria strains with different types of molecules (protein, DNA, RNA, etc.). They found that only DNA infected the bacteria, reinforcing the idea that DNA carried genetic material. -
Hershey - Chase
Conducted an experiment that conclded that DNA carried genetic information, not protein. When the scientists injected the virus protein shell with radiation, they noticed that the dna of the cell wasn't radioactive when infected by the virus. However, when they injected the virus dna with radiation, they noticedd that the cell dna was radioactive when infected, meaning that DnA held the viruses genetic information. -
Maurice Wilkins
Worked closely with Rosalind Franklin to produce an X-Ray diffracted image of DNA. He proposed the idea that DNA had a helical shape. His work led to the inspirations of Watson and Crick to create the first accurate model of DNA. -
Rosalind Franklin
Worked closely with Maurice Wilkins to contribute to the discovery of the DNA structure. She was the one who took the X-Ray diffracted picture of DNA. It was this picture that inspired Watson and Crick to develop the accurate double helix model of DNA. -
Watson and Crick
Watson and Crick were two molecular biologists who discoverd the structure of DNA. The scientists used the works of previous scientists, such as Erwin Chrgaff anf Rosalind Franklin, to put together the double helix model that satsfied the results of both works. They incorporated Chrgaff's finding that A goes with T and C goes with G and used Franklins X-Rays to coe up with an accurate DNA model. -
Restriction Enzyme Analysis
Restriction enzymes cut along DNA searching for a sequence of bases they recognize. Then is attaches itself to the DNA and cuts it in half and will continue this process until the DNA is broken up into fragments. We use this to form an analysis of these bases in specific regions of DNA -
Gel Electrophoresis
Gel electrophoresis is a method of separation and analysis of macromolecules and their fragments. An electric current is applied and the negatively charged DNA moves through the chambers toward the positive pole. Scientists use this method to detect alterations in the DNA sequence. -
GMOs
Genetic modification invlovles deletion, insertion, or mutation of a gene. We can manipulate these genes by attachingthe genes to a virus, inserting DNA into the nucleus, electroporation, and by firing small particles using a gene gun. GMOs are used in biological research, argriculture, experimental medicine, and to produce pharmaceutical drugs. An example of this are glofish. -
Plasmid Based Transformation
Transformation produces a mixture of relatively few transformed cells and a large amount of non abundant. In a cloning experiment, a gene may be inserted into a plasmid used in transformation. More techniques may be used to further screen for transformed cells that contain plasmid with an insert. -
Genetic Engineering
Genetic Engineering is the manipulation of an organism's genome using biotechnology. This requires manually adding new DNA to an organism. The goal is to add new traits that aren't found in that organism. We use genetic engineering to make "healthier" foods and to eliminate several diseases. -
Transgenic Animal
A transgenic animal is an animal that carries a gene that was inserted into its genome. There are 3 methods for the creation of these animals which are: DNA microinjection, embryonic stem cell mediated gene transfer, and retrovirus mediated gene transfer. We create transgenic animals for specific economic traits and for disease models. -
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Polymerase chain reaction is used to copy segments of DNA. This is done by heating DNA so it denatures and an enzyme called taq polymerase builds two new strands of DNA using the original as templates. This machine aids in a numbver of clinical techniques, including DNA fingerprinting, detection of bacteria/viruses, and diagnosis of genetic disorders. -
Cloning
Clones are genetically identical copies of a biological entity. This procedure is done by inserting a gene from one organism into the gentic material of a carrier. The famous animal that was cloned was a sheep named "Dolly." -
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project is a national research to map and sequnce all the genes in the human genome. Through the mapping of the human genome, scientists can understand diseases, evolution, anthropology, and many other things. The mapping of the genome was completed in 2003.
