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Gregor Mendel discovers inheritance patterns
Gregor Mendel discovered an inheritance pattern while studying garden peas. He found that genetic traits are passed down from parents to offspring in a very predictable way. -
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Past, Present, and Future of DNA Technology
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Watson and Crick discover DNA structure
James Watson and Francis Crick figure out the structure of DNA by using experimental clues and building models. They discovered the double helix structure which holds our DNA. -
The First Recombinant DNA Molecules
Paul Berg and associates used restriction enzymes and DNA ligase to create the first recombinant DNA molecules. This soon leads to many important findings. -
Enzymes and DNA
Scientists and labs discovered restriction enzymes, DNA polymerase, and DNA ligase, which all are enzymes that affect DNA. -
Birth of Modern Biotechnology Programs
In the case of Diamond vs. Chakrabarty, Anada Chakrabarty argued that a "live, human made microorganism is patentable material," and the U.S. Congress agreed. This led to the construction of the multi-billion dollary industry of biotechnology. -
Insulin
Recombinant Human Insulin was the first drug to be made using this new technology. In this year, it began being maketed and produced to help those with diabetes. -
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was invented by Kary Mullis. This technique uses heat and enzymes in order to make unlimited opies of genes. -
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome project is a government-funded, interenational project which was designed in order to locate the 50,000 to 100,000 genes and sequence the 3 billion nucleotides that make up the human genome. Knowing this could help scientists find cures for different diseases and conditions. It was started in October of 1990.
