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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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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.
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Paul Berg and associates used restriction enzymes and DNA ligase to create the first recombinant DNA molecules. This soon leads to many important findings.
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Scientists and labs discovered restriction enzymes, DNA polymerase, and DNA ligase, which all are enzymes that affect DNA.
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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.
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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.
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Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was invented by Kary Mullis. This technique uses heat and enzymes in order to make unlimited opies of genes.
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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.
