Learn about the scientists behind the discoveries, entrepreneurs,
political leaders, and significant events, people and institutions that are the foundation
of the biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceutical and life science industries
in the state of New York.
Tell us about New York's BioHistory. If you are aware of a notable event, person,
organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail: BioHistory@InfoResource.org
1817 -- New York Academy of Sciences founded
Founded in 1817, the New York Academy of Sciences is an
independent, nonprofit, membership-based organization that brings together scientists of different disciplines
from around the world. Their purpose is to advance the understanding of science, technology, and medicine,
and to stimulate new ways to think about how their research is applied in society and the world.
The accomplishments and impacts of the Academy are many: Since 1823 the Academy has published its celebrated
Annals series of proceedings of scientific conferences. Annals volumes are among the most highly cited of
scientific research publications. Since 1948 the Academy has organized the New York Science and Engineering
Fair for metropolitan area high school students. The Science Research Training program enables high school
students to work alongside area scientists as summer interns. Since 1978 the Academy's Committee on the Human
Rights of Scientists has worked tirelessly to promote the rights of scientists, health professionals,
engineers, and educators around the world.
1848 -- American Association for the Advancement of Science founded.
American Association for the Advancement of Science founded in 1848
marked the emergence of a national scientific community in the United States, and was the first organization
established to promote the development of science and engineering at the national level and to represent the interests of
all its disciplines.
Today, the AAAS serves nearly 300 affiliated societies and academies of science and publishes the
peer-reviewed general science journal Science. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance
science and serve society" through initiatives that include science policy, international programs, science education,
and public understanding of science.
1849 -- Charles Pfizer & Company (Pfizer Inc.) founded.
In 1849, cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhardt founded Charles Pfizer & Company, a
fine-chemicals business, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY. The
company's first product was santonin, a successful antiparasitic.
By 1899, Pfizer was a leader in the American chemical business, with a portfolio of products that
included citric acid, camphor, cream of tartar, borax, and iodine. Citric acid was Pfizer's most
profitable chemical, produced with imported concetrates of lemon and lime. In 1919, Pfizer chemist James
Currie successfully pioneered the mass production of citric acid from sugar through mold
fermentation, an achievement that eventually freed Pfizer from dependency on European citrus
growers and positioned the company as a leader in fermentation technology. In 1941, Pfizer
responded to an appeal from the U.S. Government to hasten the manufacture of penicillin to
treat Allied soldiers fighting in World War II, and used its fermentation technology to become the
world's largest producer of penicillin.
From 1950 to 2000, Pfizer continued to grow, adding an agriculture division as well as
several international operations, pharmaceutical plants, and research centers. In 2000,
Pfizer and Warner-Lambert merged to form the world's fastest-growing major pharmaceutical
company. Today, Pfizer has three business segments: health care, animal health, and consumer
health, with products available in more than 150 countries and yearly revenues of $50 billion.
1859 -- Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species."
In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life"
in which he postulated his theory of evolution that explained how the diverse of
species on Earth evolved from a simple, singled-celled ancestor.
From 1831-1836, Darwin served as a naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle -- a British
science expedition around the world. In South America Darwin discovered fossils of extinct animals
that were similar to modern species, and on the Galapagos Islands, located west of Equador,
he noticed many variations of plants and animals of the same general type as those in
South America. Throughout the expedition Darwin studied plants and animals
and collected specimens for further study.
Upon his return to London, Darwin conducted thorough research of his notes and specimens, and
out of his study grew several related theories: evolution did occur; evolutionary
change was gradual, requiring thousands to millions of years; the primary mechanism for
evolution was a process called natural selection; and the millions of species alive
today arose from a single original life form through a branching process called "specialization."
Darwin's theory of evolutionary selection holds that variation within species occurs randomly
and that the survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism's ability
to adapt to its environment. Darwin's theory of evolution remains the foundation of modern
biology.
New York Medical College was founded in 1860
by a group of civic leaders in New York City and led by William Cullen Bryant, the noted poet, and editor of the Evening Post who was zealously
devoted to the branch of medicine known as homeopathy, and was concerned with the condition of hospitals and
medical education. During those pre-Civil War years, New York City was plagued with slums, garbage-laden streets and the
population lived with the constant threat of epidemics. The school opened its doors on the corner of 20th street and Third Avenue
as the New York Homeopathic Medical College, and Bryant served as the medical school’s first president and held the office of
president of the Board of Trustees for 10 years.
In 1863, a separate but related institution known as the New York Medical College for Women was founded by Dr. Clemence
Sophia Lozier, staffed and supervised by many of the College’s male faculty. In 1867, this institution graduated the first
female physician in the country, Dr. Emily Stowe, who was refused admission to every medical school in her native Canada. Dr. Susan
McKinney, the first African-American female physician in New York State and the third in the nation, graduated from New York Medical
College for Women in 1870 with the highest grade in the class. When the institution closed in 1918, students transferred to the
New York Medical College, thus, the College makes its claim to be among the first medical schools to admit women.
In 1875, Metropolitan Hospital opened as a municipal facility on Ward’s Island, staffed largely by the faculty of New York
Medical College. The relationship, which continues, is among the nation’s oldest continuing affiliations between a private medical
school and a public hospital. In 1889. the Flower Free Surgical Hospital, built by New York Medical College became the first teaching
hospital in the country to be owned by a medical college. It was constructed at York Avenue and 63rd Street with funds given
largely by Congressman Roswell P. Flower, later governor of New York. In 1928, the College became the first medical school in the
nation to establish a scholarship program specifically for minority students through the efforts of Walter Gray Crump, Sr., M.D. An
alumnus and voluntary faculty member who participated vigorously in the academic life of the College. Dr. Crump taught surgery,
served as a staff surgeon at other hospitals, was a founder of the New York Medical College for Women, a trustee of Tuskegee
Institute and Howard University and assumed a leading role in the advancement of minority education and minority affairs.
In 1938, the College and Fifth Avenue Hospital merged and became New York Medical College, Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals.
In 1963, the Graduate School of Medical Sciences was founded, establishing for the first time graduate education within a school
separate from the medical curriculum. During the 1960s and 70s, the College experienced financial difficulties, and in 1978,
Terence Cardinal Cooke, Archbishop of New York, took a personal interest in the College and agreed to foster a relationship that
ensured the continued excellence of the extensive Catholic hospital system.
Today, the New York Medical College is one of the nation’s largest private health sciences universities, and the
university awards advanced degrees to students preparing for careers in medicine, science and the health professions.
The university has 1,350 full-time faculty members and 1,450 part-time and voluntary faculty who teach, conduct research and
provide patient care at 28 hospital affiliates.
1865 -- Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, presents his laws of heredity.
"In 1859 I obtained a very fertile
descendant with large, tasty seeds from a first generation hybrid. Since in the following
year, its progeny retained the desirable characteristics and were uniform, the variety was
cultivated in our vegetable garden, and many plants were raised every year up to
1865. (Gregor Mendel to Carl Nägeli, April 1867).
MendelWeb:
An educational resource for teachers and students.
In 1887, William McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers invested $5,000 into a failing drug manufacturing firm
called Clinton Pharmaceutical Company, located in Clinton, New York. The company was incorporated December 13, 1887
with William Bristol as president and John Myers as vice president. In May 1898 the company was renamed Bristol,
Myers Company (a hyphen replaced the comma after Myers’s death in 1899). In 1900 Bristol-Myers became profitable
-- where it has remained ever since.
The company’s first nationally recognized product was a poor man’s spa: a laxative mineral salt that, when
dissolved in water, reproduced the taste and effects of the natural mineral waters of Bohemia. Named Sal Hepatica,
the product initially sold modestly, but from 1903-1905 sales increased tenfold. Another success was Ipana
toothpaste, the first toothpaste to include a disinfectant in its formula and protect
against the effects of bleeding gums. The demand for Sal Hepatica and Ipana transformed Bristol-Myers from a
regional into a national and international company.
In 1924, gross profits exceeded $1 million for the first time in Bristol-Myers’ history, and the company’s products
were sold in 26 countries. At this time, the shares held by John Myers’s heirs became available for sale,
triggering a series of moves that in 1929 turned Bristol-Myers into a publicly held company listed on the New York
Stock Exchange.
In 1943, the company acquired Cheplin Laboratories -- a Syracuse, New York manufacturer of acidophilus milk --
thereby becoming a producer of pharmaceutical products. Cheplin's expertise in fermentation techniques lead it to
become a key supplier to the U.S. War Production Board’s program to mass-produce penicillin for the Allied
armed forces. By the end of WWII, it was clear that penicillin and other antibiotics represented an immense
opportunity for Bristol-Myers. Cheplin was renamed Bristol Laboratories. In 1957, Frederic N. Schwartz
was appointed president and CEO of Bristol-Myers when Henry Bristol, nearing 70, became chairman of the board.
Bristol-Myers therafter began acquiring well-managed smaller companies. The first major acquisition was
Clairol, a company founded by the husband-and-wife team of Lawrence M. Gelb and Joan Clair, which had turned
haircoloring from a difficult-to-use specialty item into a highly successful mainstream consumer product.
With Clairol also came the executive Richard Gelb, elder son of Clairol’s founders. In 1976 Richard Gelb was
elected chairman of the board. In 1986, the company opened a state-of-the-art research complex in Wallingford,
Connecticut, designed to house more than 800 scientists and support staff. (In 1995, this facility would be
renamed the Richard L. Gelb Center for Pharmaceutical Research and Development.)
In 1989, Bristol-Myers merged with Squibb creating a global leader in the health care industry.
The merger created what was then the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical enterprise. In 1990, the Bristol-Myers
Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute was established with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, and
research facilities in Wallingford, Connecticut, and other sites around the world. Today, Bristol-Myers Squibb is a
global leader in the research and development of innovative lifesaving and
life-enhancing treatments for cancer, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, pain,
and other conditions.
1887 -- Marine Hospital Service Hygienic Laboratory (National Institutes of Health) founded.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) traces its roots to 1887,
when a one-room laboratory was created within the Marine Hospital Service (MHS), predecessor agency to the
U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The MHS was established in 1798 to provide for the medical care of
merchant seamen -- charged by Congress with examining passengers on arriving ships for clinical signs of
infectious diseases, such as cholera and yellow fever, to prevent epidemics.
During the 1870s and 1880s, scientists in Europe presented compelling evidence that microscopic organisms
were the causes of several infectious diseases, and MHS officials closely followed these developments.
In 1887, Joseph Kinyoun, a MHS physician trained in the new bacteriological
methods, set up a one-room laboratory in the Marine Hospital at Stapleton, Staten Island,
New York. Kinyoun called this facility a "laboratory of hygiene" in imitation of German facilities, and within
a few months, he identified the cholera bacillus and used his Zeiss microscope to
demonstrate it to his colleagues as confirmation of their clinical diagnoses.
The Biologics Control Act enacted in 1902 had major consequences for the Hygienic Laboratory. It charged
the laboratory with regulating the production of vaccines and antitoxins, making it a regulatory agency
four years before passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. The danger posed by biological products that had
emerged from bacteriologic discoveries resulted from their production in animals and their administration by
injection. In 1901, thirteen children in St. Louis died after receiving diphtheria antitoxin contaminated
with tetanus spores. This tragedy spurred Congress to pass the Biologics Control Act, and between 1903-1907
standards were established and licenses issued to pharmaceutical firms for making smallpox and rabies vaccines,
diphtheria and tetanus antitoxins, and various other antibacterial antisera. (In 1972, responsibility
for regulation of biologics was transferred to the Food and Drug Administration).
(Photo: courtesy of the NIH Almanac)
In 1912 MHS was reorganized, renamed the Public Health Service (PHS)
and authorized to conduct research into noncontagious diseases and into the pollution of
streams and lakes in the U.S. During World War I, the PHS attended primarily to sanitation of areas
around military bases in the U.S., and when the 1918 influenza pandemic struck Washington, physicians from the
laboratory were pressed into service treating patients in the District of Columbia because so many local
doctors had fallen ill. In 1930, the Ransdell Act changed the name of the Hygienic Laboratory to the National Institute
of Health (NIH) and authorized the establishment of fellowships for research into basic biological and medical
problems. The roots of this act extended to 1918, when chemists who had worked with the Chemical Warfare
Service in World War I sought to establish an institute in the private sector to apply fundamental knowledge
in chemistry to problems of medicine. In 1937, the National
Cancer Institute (NCI) was created with sponsorship from every Senator in Congress, and was authorized
to award grants to nonfederal scientists for research on cancer and to fund fellowships at NCI for young
researchers.
During World War II, the NIH focused almost entirely on war-related problems. At the close of the war,
PHS leaders guided through Congress the 1944 Public Health Service Act, which defined the shape of medical
research in the post-war world. Two provisions were especially important: 1) In 1946 the NCI grants program was
expanded to the entire NIH, and the program grew from just over $4 million in 1947, to more than $100 million in
1957, and to $1 billion in 1974. The entire NIH budget expanded from $8 million in 1947 to more than $1 billion in
1966, now fondly remembered as "the golden years" of NIH expansion.
Accompanying growth in the grants program was the proliferation of new categorical institutes, and from
1946-1949, voluntary health organizations moved Congress to create institutes for research on mental health,
dental diseases, and heart disease. In 1948, language in the National Heart Act made the name of the
umbrella organization the National Institutes of Health. 2) The 1944 PHS Act authorized NIH to conduct clinical
research, and after the war Congress provided funding to build a research hospital, now called the Warren
Grant Magnuson Clinical Center on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The Center which opened in 1953 with 540 beds
was designed to bring research laboratories into close proximity with hospital wards in order to promote
productive collaboration between laboratory scientists and clinicians.
(Photo: National Archives and Records Administration photograph, courtesy of the Franklin Delano
Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York)
The NIH today, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency
for conducting and supporting medical research and is composed of 27 Institutes and Centers, providing
leadership and financial support to researchers in every state and throughout the world.
1890 -- Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences founded.
In 1890 The Brooklyn Institute of Arts
and Sciences founded a Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor. Today,
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a leading research and educational institution
with research programs focusing on cancer, neurobiology, plant genetics, genomics and
bioinformatics, and a broad educational mission, including the recently established
Watson School of Biological Sciences.
1897 -- New York State Pathological Laboratory (Roswell Park Cancer Institute) founded.
In 1897, New York State Pathological Laboratory now known as the
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
was founded by Dr. Roswell Park and Mr. Edward H. Butler, publisher of the Buffalo
Evening News, who asked the New York State Legislature to introduce a bill that would provide
a $7,500 grant to establish a cancer research laboratory in the University of Buffalo -- the
nation’s first comprehensive cancer care center.
Today, Roswell Park Cancer Institute is a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive
Cancer Center and a source of many advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Institute's new Center for Genetics and Pharmacology adjoining the University
at Buffalo's Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, and the Hauptman-Woodward
Medical Research Institute as part of a comprehensive Life Sciences Complex, is creating fertile
ground for inquiry and the sharing of information locally and globally.
1901 -- Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (Rockefeller University) founded.
In 1901 The Rockefeller Institute
for Medical Research became the first institution in the U.S. dedicated to biomedical
research and understanding the underlying causes of disease. The Institute's founding resulted in part as a result of personal tragedy after John D.
Rockefeller's grandson (also the grandson of Cyrus McCormick) died from scarlet fever
in January 1901, and Rockefeller moved to formalize plans for a research center that he had been
discussing for several years with his advisor Frederick T. Gates, son John D.
Rockefeller Jr. and physicians L. Emmett Holt and Christian Herter (former students of
William Henry Welch who was the Institute's president of the board of directors from 1901-1932).
At the time of Institute's founding, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria
and typhoid fever were considered the greatest known threats to human health. New research
centers in Europe, including the Koch and Pasteur Institutes, were successfully applying
laboratory science to understanding disease. The Rockefeller Institute initially awarded grants
to study health concerns, including bacteria contamination in New York City's milk supply.
In 1906, the Institute moved from a temporary faciliuty to new laboratories located on the site
of the former Schermerhorn farm at York Avenue (then called Avenue A) and 66th Street.
In 1955, Rockefeller expanded its mission to include education, admitting its first class
of graduate students, it granted its first doctoral degrees in 1959. In 1965, The Rockefeller
Institute became The Rockefeller University, further broadening its research mandate. In 1972,
the University began its collaboration with Cornell University offering graduate students a
M.D.- Ph.D. program. In the 1960s and 1970s, Institute immunologists and protein chemists
made Nobel Prize-winning contributions in determining the chemical structure of antibodies–key
immune-system molecules–and inventing new methods for studying and synthesizing protein
molecules.
In 2003, Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse became the ninth president of Rockefeller University.
He was awarded the 2001
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle.
Today, Rockefeller University researchers study antibiotics resistant bacteria,
multidrug treatments for AIDS, Alzheimer’s, human genetics,
molecular biology, neuroscience, protein chemistry, and much more.
1912 -- Alexis Carrel awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
It is estimated that between 25 and 40 million people died
from the the influenza outbreak that began in 1918, swept across America in a week and
around the world in three months. In all, between 500,000 and 700,000 Americans
--civilians and soldiers-- died from the influenza, more than were lost in World War I,
II, and the Korean and Viet Nam wars combined.
Latest Findings:
In September 2004, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a five-year,
$12.5 million grant to five institutions that will collaborate to study
genes constructed from 1918 flu-virus particles salvaged from the bodies of World
War I soldiers and the exhumed Brevig Mission, Alaska resident. The Institutions include
the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.; Mount Sinai School of Medicine,
New York; Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA; the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention; and the University of Washington. The ultimate goal is to use knowledge
gained from the study to develop vaccines, influenza medications and diagnostic tests to
prevent a similar influenza outbreak.
1933 -- Thomas Hunt Morgan awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his
chromosome theory of heredity.
Thomas Hunt Morgan pioneered the new science of genetics through experimental
research with the fruit fly (Drosophila), laying the foundations for the future of biology. On
the basis of fly-breeding experiments he demonstrated that genes are linked in a series on
chromosomes and that they determine indentifiable, hereditary traits.
In 1945 Sloan-Kettering Institute (SKI) founded
by philanthropist and industrialist Alfred P. Sloan, and Charles F. Kettering, inventor and
industrialist on New York City's Upper Eastside as a cancer research center.
In 1980, Sloan-Kettering Institute , Memorial Hospital, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center were unified into a single institution. Today, Today, Sloan-Kettering Institute is one of
nations leading cancer research centers.
1947 -- Transistor invented at AT&T's Bell Laboratories.
The transistor, the invention that marked the dawn of the
information age, was invented by John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain at AT&T's Bell Laboratories. Bardeen,
Shockley and Brattain were awarded the 1956
Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the transistor effect.
In 1947, Brookhaven National Laboratory
was founded as a nonprofit corporation to establish a nuclear-science facility in a remote
surplus army base location on Long Island. On March 21, 1947, the U.S. War Department
transferred the site of Camp Upton on Long Island to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC),
the federal agency that oversaw the founding of Brookhaven National Laboratory and
predecessor to the present U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Brookhaven's mission was to promote basic research in the physical, chemical, biological and
engineering aspects of atomic sciences, and design, construct and operate large scale
scientific equipment that individual institutions could not afford to develop on their own.
Today, Brookhaven Lab is one of ten national laboratories under DOE’s Office of Science,
which provides the majority of the Laboratory’s research dollars and direction.
1947 -- Carl Ferdinand and Gerty Theresa Cori awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.
The double helix structure of DNA, the hereditary molecule is revealed by
two scientists, James D. Watson and Francis Crick. This is one of the key
discoveries of the century. Watson and Crick shared the 1962
Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with Maurice Wilkins for their discoveries
concerning the molecular structure of nuclear acids and its significance for information
transfer in living material.
Jack Kilby, an engineer at
Texas Instruments shows only a transistor and other components on a slice of
germanium. This invention (7/16-by-1/16-inches in size), called an integrated
circuit, revolutionized the electronics industry. Kilby was awarded
the 2000 Nobel Prize in
Physics for his invention of the integrated circuit.
(Photo: Jack Kilby courtesy of Texas Instruments)
1958 -- George Wells Beadle awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
1961 -- President John F. Kennedy expands U.S. Space Program
Listen to President John F. Kennedy's speech in
his historic message to a joint session of the Congress, on May 25, 1961 declared,
"...I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade
is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." This goal was
achieved when astronaut Neil A. Armstrong became the first human to set foot upon the
Moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT, July 20, 1969. Shown in the background are, (left) Vice
President Lyndon Johnson, and (right) Speaker of the House Sam T. Rayburn. The expansion of
the U.S. Space Program resulted in the development of a wide range of technology with
enormous benefit to human and animal kind.
(Photo: Courtesy of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration)
1966 -- Peyton Rous awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
In July of 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, American astronauts, made
history by becoming the first men to walk on the moon.
Listen to Neil Armstrong's first words as he steps onto the lunar
surface (66 kb .wav file).
(Photo: Courtesy of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration)
An important benefit of the Apollo Lunar Program and
other NASA programs is the ever-growing pipeline of technology that improves human and
veterinary healthcare diagnostics and therapeutics.
1969 -- Victor McKusick publishes "Mendelian Inheritance in Man".
Victor McKusick, widely acknowledged as the father of medical genetics, spent his career studying
the genetic basis of diseases and disorders with the belief that such an understanding could lead
to new methods of diagnosis and treatment. He studied, identified, and mapped genes responsible for
inherited conditions such as Marfan syndrome and dwarfism (specifically in Amish communities).
In 1969, he proposed the idea of mapping the human genome, over 30 years before the Human
Genome Project was established.
McKusick, a graduate of Johns Hopkins (M.D. 1946), spent his entire career there and founded
the Division of Medical Genetics in 1957, the first research center and clinic of its kind. In
1969 he published the 1st edition of his
book "Mendelian Inheritance of Man",
one of the most comprehensive collections of inherited disease genes. In 2002, McKusick received the
highest scientific honor in the U.S., the National Medal of Science.
1969 -- Alfred D. Hershey awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Nasdaq, founded February 8, 1971, is now the largest U.S. electronic stock
market. With approximately 3,300 companies, it lists more companies and, on
average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. NASDAQ is
home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including
technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media,
biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical.
The modern era of biotechnology begins when Stanley Cohen of
Stanford University and Herbert Boyer of the University of
California at San Francisco successfully recombine ends of bacterial DNA after splicing a
toad gene in between. They call their accomplishment recombinant DNA,
but the media prefers using the term genetic engineering. (Photo: Courtesy Stanley Cohen)
1974 -- Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
John N. Erlenborn, the ranking Republican on the House Committee, was responsible for
bringing the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to a floor vote, and
is one of the ERISA’s "Founding Fathers." Together with Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY), Senator
Pete Williams (D-NJ) and Congressman John Dent (D-PA), Erlenborn crafted provisions and
participated in negotiations that were instrumental to the enactment of ERISA which was - and
remains - the single most important legislation governing employee benefit plans in the United
States providing an important source of financial investment for the stock market.
(Photos: Jacob Javits and Pete Williams courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office).
1974 -- Albert Claude, Christian de Duve, and George E. Palade awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
1976 -- Genentech, founder of the biotechnology industry, established.
In 1976, Genentech was founded by venture capitalist
Robert Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. In the early 1970s, Boyer and
geneticist Stanley Cohen at Stanford University pioneered recombinant DNA technology.
Excited by the breakthrough, Swanson called Boyer who agreed to give the young entrepreneur
10 minutes of his time. Swanson's enthusiasm for the technology resulted in a three hour meeting
and at its conclusion, Genentech was born.
Within a few short years Swanson and Boyer invented a new industry - biotechnology.
In 1980, Genentech issued its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and raised $35 million
with an offering that jumped from $35 a share to a high of $88 after less than an hour on the
market. The event was one of the largest stock run-ups ever, and that event set the stage for
future biotechnolgy industry offerings.
Genentech was initially broadly focused in three areas including food processing,
industrial chemicals, and human health care. In 1982, Eli Lilly & Co. which had acquired
worldwide rights to Genenetch's recombinant human insulin (1978) received FDA approval to
market the product -- the first biotechnology therapeutic to reach the marketplace.
Beginning in 1983, Genentech became solely focused on human therapeutics
and diagnostics, and in 1985, Genentech received approval from FDA to market its first product,
Protropin® (somatrem for injection) growth hormone for children with growth hormone deficiency
— the first recombinant pharmaceutical product to be manufactured and marketed by a
biotechnology company. In 1990, Genentech and Roche Holding Ltd. of Basel, Switzerland completed a
$2.1 billion merger. Today, Genentech is among the world's leading biotech companies with
multiple protein-based products on the market for serious or life-threatening medical
conditions.
1980 -- U.S. Supreme Court ruled man-made organism patentable.
Diamond v. Chakrabarty, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds five-to-four the patentability of
genetically altered organisms, opening the door to greater patent protection for any
modified life forms.
In 1972, Chakrabarty, a microbiologist, filed a patent
application, assigned to the General Electric Co. for a human-made genetically engineered
bacterium capable of breaking down multiple components of crude oil. Because of this
property, which is possessed by no naturally occurring bacteria, Chakrabarty's invention
was believed to have significant value for the treatment of oil spills. The application
asserted 36 claims related to Chakrabarty's invention of "a bacterium from the genus
Pseudomonas containing therein at least two stable energy-generating plasmids, each of
said plasmids providing a separate hydrocarbon degradative pathway.
Opinions: Chief Justice Warren Burger delivered the opinion
of the Court, in which justices Potter Stewart, Harry Blackmun, William Rehnquist, and
John Paul Stevens joined. William Brennan filed a dissenting opinion, in which Byron
White, Thurgood Marshall, and Lewis Powell joined.
1980 -- Bayh-Dole Act provides for university technology transfer.
H.R.6933, Public Law: 96-517, December 12, 1980. A bill to amend title
35 of the United States Code. This Act known as the Bayh-Dole Act provided for the legal transfer of research and
technology originating from U.S. universities and federal laboratories to private
companies for commercialization. Technology transfer offices are now common in
universities and federal laboratories and are the technology foundation for numerous
biotechnology and medical device companies. (Photos: Birch Bayh and
Robert Dole courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office)
New York
Technology Transfer Resources -- A comprehensive listing of technology transfer
resources in the state of New York, and select national and international resources.
1980 -- Baruj Benacerraf awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
The U.S. Human Genome
Project was established -- a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S.
Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project, originally
planned to last 15 years, was expected to be completed by 2003 due to
rapid technological advances.
Project Goals
Identify all the estimated 80,000 genes in human DNA,
Determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical bases that make up human DNA,
Store this information in databases,
Develop tools for data analysis, and
Address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise from the project.
1993 -- Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) founded.
Biotechnology Industry
Organization is the world's largest organization to serve and represent the
biotechnology industry. BIO's leadership and service-oriented guidance have helped advance
the industry and bring the benefits of biotechnology to people everywhere.
1993 -- Kary B. Mullis awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
PCR allows scientists to quickly replicate small strands of DNA, greatly simplifying
the sequencing and cloning of genes. First presented in 1985, PCR has become one of
the most widespread methods of analyzing DNA. Notably, PCR requires the heat-stable enzyme
Taq (Thermus Aquaticus) which originated from hot springs located in Yellowstone
National Park.
1999 -- Günter Blobel awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
2001 -- Human Genome Project draft sequence published.
The February 16 issue of Science and February
15 issue of Nature contained the working draft of the human genome
sequence (U.S. Human Genome
Project). Nature papers included initial analysis of the descriptions of the sequence
generated by the publicly sponsored Human Genome Project, while Science publications focused
on the draft sequence reported by the private company, Celera Genomics.
This method has produced powerful new catalysts used in the custom synthesis of
pharmaceuticals.
2009 -- Year of Science launched by the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science.
Year of Science
launched by the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) will embark on a celebratory
journey with you to share how science works, what it is like to be a scientist, and why science matters.
In nearly every state, participants in the celebration will demonstrate how we know about our natural world
and why science continues to be so vitally important to our communities, our country, and the world.
Other Resources
Suggested
Science Education Reading -- A list of select biotechnology and other science related books to help you understand the world of biotechnology.
Suggested CEO Reading
-- A list of select books recommended by some of the nation's leading chief
executive officers from the biotechnology, medical technology and related industry.
Tell us about New York's BioHistory. If you are aware of a notable event, person,
organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail: BioHistory@InfoResource.org
The 
Diamond v. Chakrabarty, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds five-to-four the patentability of
genetically altered organisms, opening the door to greater patent protection for any
modified life forms.
The 
