The following includes select facts from life science history, both global
and California-state specific, that help explain the origins of the state's life science
industry. Please note that these facts are part of a much larger state-specific
history database that will be launched in the near future. In the meantime, we encourage you
to learn about the scientists behind the discoveries, the entrepreneurs, companies,
philanthropists, political leaders, and significant events, institutions
and companies that are the foundation of the life science industry in the state
of California.
If you are aware of a notable event, person, organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail us at: Suggestions@InfoResource.org
1848 -- American Association for the Advancement of Science was 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.
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.
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.
1865 -- Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, presented his laws of heredity.
Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian considered the father of modern genetics,
conducted crossbreeding experiments with pea plants between 1856 and 1863. Through this work,
he established many of the rules 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).
1868 -- University of California was founded.
When it first opened its doors in 1869, the University of California (UC) had just 10 faculty members
and 38 students. Today, UC has ten campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego,
San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara and manages three U.S. Department of Energy
national laboratories: the Lawrence Berkeley laboratory, the Livermore laboratory, and Los Alamos
laboratory. UC researchers are pioneers in agriculture, medicine, technology, and the environment, and
thousands of California jobs plus billions of dollars in revenues can be traced back to UC
discoveries. Many of the state’s leading businesses were either based on technology developed
by the university, were founded by faculty or alumni, or are headed by UC graduates.
The University of California's five medical centers support the clinical teaching programs
of UC's medical and health sciences schools and receive more than 120,000 inpatient discharges,
239,000 emergency room visits and more than 3.3 million outpatient visits each year.
The centers provide a full range of health care services in their communities and are
sites for the development and testing of new diagnostic and therapeutic techniques.
Collectively, these centers comprise one of the largest health care systems in California
and one of the two largest Medi-Cal providers in the state.
1879 -- University of Southern California was founded.
University of Southern California
(USC) was established in 1879 when Judge Robert Maclay Widney formed a board of
trustees and secured a donation of 308 lots of land from three prominent community leaders
— Ozro W. Childs, a Protestant horticulturist; former California governor John G. Downey, an
Irish-Catholic pharmacist and businessman; and Isaias W. Hellman, a German-Jewish banker and
philanthropist. The gift provided land for a campus as well as a source of endowment, the seeds of
financial support for the nascent institution. (Photo: Judge Robert Maclay Widney)
In 1885, USC’s College of Medicine, the first in Southern California, was established,
and in 1897 the college began offering courses in dentistry. A century later,
Alfred Mann gave $112.5 million to establish the USC Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical
Engineering, and in 1999, USC’s medical school received a $110 million gift and was renamed the
Keck School of Medicine of USC. (Photo: Alfred E. Mann)
Today, the University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private
research universities. The Health Sciences campus, northeast of downtown Los Angeles,
is home to the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the School of Pharmacy, three major
teaching hospitals, and programs in Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and
in Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy.
1887 -- Marine Hospital Service Hygienic Laboratory (National Institutes of Health) was 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
(Photo: courtesy of the NIH Almanac).
1891 -- Throop University (Caltech) was founded.
Throop University (Caltech) was
founded in 1891 by Pasadena philanthropist Amos Throop, and under the guidance of astronomer
George Ellery Hale, the first director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, it was transformed
into a leading institution for engineering and scientific research and education.
By 1921, Hale was joined by chemist Arthur A. Noyes and physicist Robert A. Millikan who
guided the school (renamed the California Institute of Technology) on its current course.
For the next 76 years, Millikan and his successors -- Lee DuBridge, Harold Brown, Marvin
Goldberger, and Thomas Everhart -- led the Institute to preeminence in the
scientific community. During this time programs were added in geology,
biology, aeronautics, astronomy, astrophysics, the social sciences, computer science, and
computation and neural systems.
During the 1930s, Caltech was renowned for its strength in Drosophila genetics, work pioneered
by Thomas Hunt Morgan who came to Caltech in 1928. Morgan's Division of Biology attracted
several scientists who would later become Nobel Prize winners, including George
Beadle (1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine) and Max Delbrück (1969 Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine).
Today Caltech, led by David Baltimore, 1975 Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine for his
discovery of the enzyme reverse transcriptase, is one of the leading institutions in the
nation for engineering and scientific research and education.
1891 -- Stanford University was founded.
Stanford University was
founded in 1891 on land acquired by former California Governor Leland Stanford, a lawyer,
pioneeer and entrepreneur who was inspired by the Ivy League schools. In addition to land,
the Jane Stanford, Leland's wife who succeeded him after his death in 1893,
provided a $11 million endowment to support the construction of the new university.
(Photo: Leland Stanford)
The Stanford School of Medicine can trace its history to 1858, when Samuel Elias Cooper
founded the Far West's first medical school in San Francisco. In 1908, Stanford Trustees accepted
Cooper Medical College as part of the University, and in 1953 the Trustees made
built a new Stanford Medical Center on the main campus that was dedicated in September 1959.
(Photo: Cooper Medical College 1892)
In 1951, the Stanford Research Park was created in response to the demand for industrial
land near university resources and an emerging electronics industry tied closely to the
prominent electronics department at Stanford. Stanford Research Park is now home to
more than 150 companies in electronics, software, biotechnology, and other advanced technology fields.
A number of top law firms, financial service firms, strategic consultants, and venture capital
companies are also located in the Park. Research and development and
service companies now occupy some 10 million square feet in more than 160 buildings.
Today, Stanford is one of the world's leading institutions in medical education, research, and
patient treatment and care, the center is home of the Stanford School of Medicine, the Stanford
University Hospital, the Stanford University Clinic, and the Lucile Salter Packard Children's
Hospital at Stanford.
1902 -- The Biologics Control Act was established.
The Biologics Control Act, established 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).
The Marine Hospital Service (MHS), established in 1798, was reorganized in 1912
and renamed the Public Health Service (PHS). The PHS was 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.
1913 -- City of Hope was founded.
City of Hope began in 1913, when a group of volunteers, spurred by compassion to help those afflicted with tuberculosis, established the Jewish Consumptive
Relief Association (JCRA) and raised money to start a free, nonsectarian tuberculosis sanatorium. After several fundraisers, the JCRA put a down payment
on 10 acres of sun-soaked land in Duarte, where they would establish the Los Angeles Sanatorium a year later. The original sanatorium
consisted of two canvas cottages.
Today, City of Hope is designated comprehensive cancer center, the highest recognition bestowed by the National Cancer Institute,
and is a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, with research and treatment protocols that advance care
throughout the nation.
1918 -- Spanish Influenza Pandemic.
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. In Arkansas, the flu killed about 7,000
people, several times more than the state lost during World War I.
By late September, 1918, influenza was present throughout the West Coast.
Within two weeks of the first reported outbreak in Massachusetts,
over 35,000 people throughout California, had contracted influenza.
According to state officials, influenza was most prevalent in the southern
part of California but the death toll was high across the state. In early November,
the number of reported cases peaked at over 115,000. Because officials were overwhelmed
by the pandemic and unable to keep accurate records, the real number of cases
was probably much higher than reported. The disease peaked in the fall.
Influenza remained prevalent throughout the state during the winter and
spring of 1919. The disease did not begin to disappear from California until
the summer of 1919.
1924 -- The Scripps Metabolic Clinic was founded.
The Scripps Metabolic Clinic, a predecessor of The
Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), was founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps.
TSRI's modern beginnings date to the 1955 establishment of Scripps Clinic and
Research Foundation, when a major portion of the Clinic's limited reserves were
committed to the construction of a new research facility and to the recruitment
of top biomedical scientists. In 1961, Frank Dixon was recruited to La Jolla from Minnesota with four other young
scientists, forming the core of what would later become The Scripps Research Institute.
Today, TSRI, one of the country's largest, private, non-profit research
organizations, stands at the forefront of basic biomedical science, a vital
segment of medical research that seeks to comprehend the most fundamental
processes of life. In just three decades the Institute has established a lengthy
track record of major contributions to the betterment of health and the human
condition.
The Institute has become internationally recognized for its basic research
into immunology, molecular and cellular biology, chemistry, neurosciences,
autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, virology and synthetic vaccine
development. Particularly significant is the Institute's study of the basic
structure and design of biological molecules; in this arena TSRI is among a
handful of the world's leading centers.
1931 -- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) founded.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was founded in 1931
by Ernest Orlando Lawrence, winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of
the cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that opened the door to high-energy physics.
Today the Berkeley Lab, located on a 200 acre site in the hills above the
University of California's Berkeley campus, is the oldest of the U.S. Department of Energy's
National Laboratories. The Lab is managed by the University of California, and has an annual
operating budget of more than $500 million and a staff of more than 3,500 employees, including
more than 500 students.
The Lab is organized into 17 scientific divisions and conducts research
across a wide range of scientific disciplines with key efforts in fundamental studies of the
universe; quantitative biology; nanoscience; new energy systems and environmental solutions;
and the use of integrated computing as a tool for discovery.
1933 -- Thomas Hunt Morgan was 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.
1937 -- The National Cancer Institute was created.
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.
Today, the NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the federal government's
principal agency for cancer research and training.
1944 -- Joseph Erlanger was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Erlanger's chief research was done in the fields of electrophysiology and the
physiology of the circulatory system. In 1922, in collaboration with one of his former pupils,
H. S. Gasser, Erlanger adapted the cathode-ray oscillograph for the study of nerve
action potentials and this led to the work for which Erlanger and Gasser were given
the Nobel Prize.
1944 -- Public Health Service Act was established.
The 1944 Public Health Service Act defined the shape of medical research in the post-war world.
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. 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.
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.
1946 -- Stanford Research Institute was founded.
Stanford Research Institute, now known as the SRI International
(SRI) was founded in 1946 by the trustees of Stanford University following several decades of cooperation
between members of the Stanford community and local business executives. SRI became independent of the
university in 1970, and changed its name to SRI International in 1977.
Today, SRI is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations.
SRI has been responsible for major advances in networking and communications, robotics, drug discovery and
development, advanced materials, atmospheric research, education research, economic development, national
security, and more. The nonprofit institute performs sponsored research and development for government
agencies, businesses, and foundations. SRI also licenses its technologies, forms strategic alliances,
and creates spin-off companies.
1947 -- Transistor was 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.
1947 -- The Laboratory of Experimental Oncology was founded.
The Laboratory of Experimental Oncology (LEO) was founded in 1947 as a collaborative effort
between the city of San Francisco, The National Cancer Institute, and the UC School of Medicine. The LEO was created with the full support of
Surgeon General Thomas Parran, and was an outlying entension of the NCI. LEO was designed for clinical research and filled this need until a
large national clinical center opened in Bethesda in 1953.
During its five years of operation (1947-1953), LEO investigators produced 124 scientific papers, based upon 605 "experimental
treatments" conducted on 467 cancer patients admitted to the lab's experimental ward. By the time the lab closed in 1953, 90% of these
patients had died, and 82% were autopsied as part of the laboratory's program.
1951 -- Stanford Research Park was founded.
The
Stanford Research Park, the nation's first high-tech research park, was created in 1951
in response to the demand for industrial land near university resources and an emerging
electronics industry tied closely to the School of Engineering. The first lessee of the
Stanford Research Park was Varian Associates. Stanford graduates and professors have founded
Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Yahoo! and may other advanced-technology
companies.
Today, Stanford Research Park encompasses 700 acres (283 hectares) and is home to more than 150 companies in electronics, software,
biotechnology, and other advanced technology fields. A number of top law firms, financial
service firms, strategic consultants, and venture capital companies are also located in the
Park. Research and development and service companies now occupy some 10 million square feet
in more than 160 buildings.
1952 -- University of California Radiation Laboratory (Livermore) was founded.
The University of California Radiation Laboratory, now known as the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL) was founded in 1952 as part of the UC Berkeley Radiation Laboratory on the
one-square-mile site of a World War II naval air training station. The creation of the
Laboratory was triggered by the detonation of the first Russian atomic bomb in 1949 and fear of
Soviet advances toward a hydrogen bomb. In 1958, after the death of E. O.
Lawrence, the Livermore Lab was renamed Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.
In 1963, the Atomic Energy Commission launched its first biomedical and
environmental research program at Livermore to study the effects of radiation on humans.
Today, Livermore is one of the world's premier scientific centers, where cutting-edge
science and engineering in the interest of national security is used to break new ground
in other areas of national importance, including energy, biomedicine, and environmental
science.
1953 -- Double helix structure of DNA was revealed.
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.
1954 -- Linus Carl Pauling was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Linus Carl Pauling of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) was
awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize for
Chemistry for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its
application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances.
Pauling's early interest lay in the field of molecular structure and the nature of the chemical bond,
inspired by papers by Irving Langmuir on the application of the Lewis theory of the sharing of pairs of electrons
between atoms to many substances. In 1925, Pauling was appointed to the Staff of Caltech,
and during the 1930s Pauling was among the pioneers who used quantum mechanics to understand and describe chemical
bonding.
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)
Jack Kilby went on to pioneer military, industrial, and commercial applications of
microchip technology. He headed teams that built both the first military system and the
first computer incorporating integrated circuits. He later co-invented both the hand-held
calculator and the thermal printer that was used in portable data terminals.
Mr. Kilby officially retired from TI in 1983, but he maintained a significant involvement
with the company throughout his life.
1958 -- George Wells Beadle awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Beadle, a Nebraska native, might have become a farmer if one of his teachers at high
school had not directed him towards science and persuaded him to go to the
College of Agriculture at Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1931 he was awarded a National
Research Council Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology, and
in 1946 he became Professor of Biology and Chairman of the Division of Biology, where
he remained until 1961 when he was elected Chancellor of the University of Chicago
and, in the autumn of the same year, President of this University.
1959 -- Salk Institute was envisioned.
The Salk Institute was initially envisioned by Jonas Salk, M.D.,
the developer of the polio vaccine, in 1959, but it was not until 1962 that construction on the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies began.
Today, the Salk Institute conducts its biomedical research in 24 laboratories with a scientific staff of
more than 850. Although not a degree-granting institution, the Salk has trained more than 2,000 scientists, many of
whom have gone on to positions of leadership in other prominent research centers worldwide. Five of the scientists
trained here have won the Nobel Prize. Four of the Institute's current resident faculty members and three nonresident
fellows are Nobel Laureates.
1961 -- President John F. Kennedy expanded the 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 National Aeronautics & Space Administration)
1969 -- Man walked on the moon.
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 published "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 -- Max Delbrück was awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Delbrück's interest in biology was aroused in Berlin in 1932 when he became an
assistant to Lise Meitner at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes. In 1937, Delbrück moved to the U.S.
when he received a fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation, and soon thereafter joined
Caltech because of its strength in Drosophila genetics. In 1947, following an
instructorship in the Physics Department at Vanderbilt University, Delbrück returned to
Caltech as a professor of biology where he remained for the rest of his career.
1971 -- NASDAQ Stock Market was founded.
NASDAQ Stock Market was founded as the world's first electronic stock market by the
National Association of Securities Dealers. The NASDAQ system, created by the Bunker Ramos
Corp. allowed the financial community, for the first time, to determine which market
offered the best price on a given security.
1971 -- President Nixon declared war on cancer creating the Cancer Centers Program of the National Cancer Institute.
On Dec. 23, 1971, the National Cancer Act of 1971, enacted by President Richard Nixon as part of the
nation’s war on cancer, established the Cancer Centers Program of the National Cancer Institute.
The National Cancer Act, "The War on Cancer," gave the NCI unique autonomy at NIH with special budgetary authority.
The annual budget of NCI, called the bypass budget, be submitted directly to the president, bypassing traditional
approval by the NIH or the Department of HHS required of other NIH institutes.
1973 -- Recombinant DNA was perfected.
The modern era of biotechnology begins when Stanley Cohen of Stanford University and Herbert Boyer of the University of
California at San Francisco successfully recombined ends of bacterial DNA after splicing a toad gene in between. They
called their accomplishment recombinant DNA, but the media preferred the term genetic engineering.
(Photo: Courtesy Stanley Cohen)
Boyer and Cohen's achievement was an advancement upon the techniques developed by Paul Berg, in 1972,
for inserting viral DNA into bacterial DNA. Cohen's research at Stanford was with plasmids—the nonchromosomal, circular
units of DNA found in, and exchanged by, bacteria, while Boyer's was restriction enzymes produced by bacteria to counter
invasion by bacteriophages.
1974 -- Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) was enacted.
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 creating a growing source of new capital.
(Photos: Jacob Javits and Pete Williams courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office).
1975 -- Monoclonal antibodies were produced.
In 1975, Georges Köhler and César Milstein, showed how monoclonal antibodies can be generated by
isolating individual fused myeloma cells.
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.
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. This event was one of the largest stock run-ups ever, and that
event set the stage for future biotechnolgy industry offerings.
1976 -- La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation (Burnham Institute) was founded.
The Burnham Institute was founded
in 1976 by William (Bill) H. Fishman, M.D., Ph.D., and his wife Lillian Fishman, M.Ed.
as the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation (LJCRS) located in San Diego. The Institute
was originally focused on oncodevelopment -- the study of developmental biology in
conjunction with oncology, as a means to better understand the
elusive and deadly nature of cancer.
In 1979, the Institute received a two-year planning grant from the National Cancer
that helped the Institute relocate on five acres donated by the Whittaker Corporation
in Torrey Pines in close proximity to the University of Southern California at
San Diego and the Salk Institute. In 1981, the Institute was designated as a Cancer
Center for Basic Research by the National Cancer Institute.
In 1996, The Burnham Institute was named to honor the generosity of Roberta and
Malin Burnham and their family, and to reflect its broadening scientific foundation.
In 1999, The Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience and Aging, which focuses on diseases
such as stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, was established, solidifying the expansion
of research. Today, The Burnham Institute continues to evolve as a premier basic
science institute, embodying the vision of its co-founders and contributing to the
health and well being of the world.
1977 -- First human gene was cloned.
Walter Gilbert induced bacteria to synthesize insulin and interferon, and Frederick Sanger
published the complete sequence of phage FX174. The 1980 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry was
awarded jointly to Frederick Sanger and Walter Gilbert for "for their contributions concerning
the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids, and to Paul Berg for his fundamental
studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA.
In 1978, Hybritech was founded by cancer researcher Ivor Royston and lab technician
Howard Birndorf of the University of California, San Diego, becoming San Diego's
first biotechnology company. Hybritech issued its Initial Public Offering in 1981
and raised $12 million, and $33 million in a secondary offering in 1982. The company was
acquired by Eli Lilly in 1986.
Importantly, Hybritech's recruitment of experienced management and scientific talent
became the foundation of numerous other San Diego biotechnology companies, including Gen-Probe,
Genoptix, Gensia, IDEC Pharmaceuticals (Biogen Idec), Immune Response, Ligand, Nanogen,
Neurocrine Biosciences, Viagene (Chiron), and more.
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, Mohan 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 provided 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)
Founded in 1980 with George B. Rathmann as its CEO, Amgen
(Applied Molecular Genetics) pioneered the development of novel and
innovative products based on advances in recombinant DNA and molecular biology.
In 1983, Amgen issued its Initial Public Offering of 2,350,000 shares at $18 per share
and raised $40 million leading the way for other biotech IPO's. More than a
decade ago, Amgen introduced two of the first biologically derived human therapeutics
EPOGEN® (Epoetin alfa) and NEUPOGEN® (Filgrastim), which became the biotechnology industry's
first blockbusters.
Today, Amgen is a Fortune 500 company whose business has expanded to serve patients around the
world in supportive cancer care and the treatment of anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, and other
auto-immune diseases such as psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
1981 -- Roger W. Sperry was awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
In 1954, Sperry was recruited to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
as Hixson Professor of Psychobiology where he performed his groundbreaking experiments
with Joseph Bogen, MD and many students including Michael Gazzaniga. Sperry’s research
with "split-brain" cats led to the discovery that cutting the corpus callosum is an
effective treatment for patients suffering with epilepsy.
1983 -- Orphan Drug Act was created.
The Orphan Drug Act
encouraged the research and development of drugs for rare or "orphan" diseases defined as a disease or condition that
affects fewer than 200,000 Americans.
The Orphan Drug Act provided for financial incentives to help companies recover the cost of developing much needed
therapies for small patient populations. The FDA estimates that more than 11 million patients in the U.S. and millions
more around the world, have benefited from this legislation.
1984 -- Alec Jeffreys and technician Vicky Wilson discovered minisatellites leading to the development of genetic fingerprinting.
In 1984, geneticist Sir Alec Jeffreys, and technician Vicky Wilson at the University of
Leicester in England discovered minisatellites leading to the development of genetic fingerprinting.
The new technology was first used in 1985 to resolve a disputed immigration case
that confirmed the identity of a British boy whose family was from Ghana.
In 1988, Colin Pitchfork was convicted of murdering two girls in 1983 and 1986 in
Narborough, Leicestershire, England after his DNA samples matched semen samples
taken from the two dead girls. Jeffreys' work in this case convicted the
killer, but also exonerated Richard Buckland, a suspect who otherwise might
have spent his life in prison. In 1994, Jeffreys' was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II for his services to genetics.
1984 -- Robert Bruce Merrifield was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
It was Merrifield's work at Rockefeller University, where he was an Assistant
for Dr. D.W. Woolley, that profoundly influenced his career. The two worked on a
dinucleotide growth factor that Merrifield had discovered in graduate school and
on peptide growth factors that Woolley had discovered earlier. These studies led to
the need for peptide synthesis and, eventually, to the idea for solid phase peptide
synthesis in 1959.
1990 -- Human Genome Project was established.
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 main goals of the
Human Genome Project were to provide a complete and accurate sequence of the 3 billion
DNA base pairs that make up the human genome and to find all of the estimated 20,000 to
25,000 human genes. The project, originally planned to last 15 years, was expected
to be completed by 2003 due to rapid technological advances.
1990 -- BayBio was founded.
BayBio, a non-profit 501(c)(3)
organization headquartered in San Francisco, was founded by a consortium of universities,
public officials, educators, and bioscience executives to foster a regional climate
supporting the bioscience industry in Northern California.
1993 -- Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) was 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 was 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.
1995 -- Edward B. Lewis was awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Edward B. Lewis, Caltech graduate (Ph.D. 1942) and former faculty member,
was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
and Eric F. Wieschaus for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of
early embryonic development.
1995 -- Southern California Biomedical Council was founded.
Southern California Biomedical Council (SCBC),
was founded with support from Rebuild LA (RLA) under its second president, Linda Griego, and
incorporated in 1995 as a non-profit (c) 6, membership-based, California trade association.
SCBC promotes and supports biomedical and biotechnology research, development, and
anufacturing in the Greater Los Angeles region for economic development and job creation.
1997 -- Paul D. Boyer was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
In 1965, Boyer became Director of the newly created Molecular Biology
Institute (MBI) at UCLA, and it was in the 1970's that Boyer and his team
recognized the first main postulate of what was to become the binding
change mechanism for ATP synthesis, and soon thereafter the other two
main concepts of the mechanism were revealed. He has said that
his key insight--that most of the energy was needed to release tightly
bound ATP--came to him in a flash when he let his mind wander during
a dull lecture he was attending.
1998 -- Louis J. Ignarro was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Ignarro joined UCLA in 1985, and is currently professor of pharmacology at the
UCLA School of Medicine's department of molecular and medical pharmacology.
1999 -- The Buck Institute for Research opened its doors.
The Buck Institute, named for Marin
County philanthropists Leonard and Beryl Buck, opened its research facility in 1999, and was the first
independent institution in the United States to respond to a call from the National Institute of
Medicine to establish ten centers to study aging.
Dr. Leonard Buck was a pathologist at the University of California, San Francisco; Beryl Buck was
trained as a nurse. Prior to her death in 1975, she asked that the Buck estate be used, in part,
"to extend help toward the problems of the aged." The Institute is built on approximately 488 acres of
land on Mt. Burdell in Novato, California, 25 miles north of San Francisco.
The Institute’s first significant scientific finding was reported in Science in 2000, when faculty
members Simon Melov and Gordon Lithgow demonstrated the first successful use of a drug to extend the
lifespan significantly in an animal. The research involved a novel catalytic antioxidant which nearly
doubled the lifespan of the nematode worm C. elegans and supported the role of oxidative stress as a major
determinant of lifespan.
2001 -- Human Genome Project draft sequence was 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.
2001 -- K. Barry Sharpless was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Sharpless currently holds the W. M. Keck professorship in chemistry at
The Scripps Research Institute.
2005 -- The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was established.
In 2005, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
("The Institute" or "CIRM") was
established with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell
Research and Cures Initiative. The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in
funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was
approved by California voters on November 2, 2004, and called for the establishment of a
new state agency to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities
and other vital research opportunities.
2005 -- Robert H. Grubbs was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
In 1978 Grubbs joined Caltech and in 1990 he became the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of
Chemistry. Gribbs was a co-founder of Materia, a startup to produce catalysts. In 2008,
Materia merged with Cargill to form Elevance Renewable Sciences to produce specialty
chemicals
2006 -- Andrew Fire was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
In 2003, Dr. Fire accepted a position at the Stanford University School of Medicine,
where he currently holds the title of Professor of Pathology and Genetics.
2007 -- The National Institutes of Health established the Human Microbiome Project.
In 2007, the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), a $150 million initiative, was established by the National
Institutes of Health with the mission of generating resources that would enable the comprehensive characterization of
the human microbiome and analysis of its role in human health and disease.
The HMP is the collection of all
the microorganisms living in association with the human body, including eukaryotes, archaea, bacteria and viruses.
Bacteria in an average human body number ten times more than human cells, for a total of about 1000 more genes
than are present in the human genome.
2007 -- BP Energy Biosciences Institute was founded.
BP Energy Biosciences Institute established
with $500 million ten year grant to a consortium including researchers at the
QB3 facility at the University of California, Berkeley, the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Lab in Berkeley, the
Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, and the University of Illinois which will provide agricultural support.
The institute will focus on three key areas of energy bioscience: 1) Developing new biofuel components and improving the
efficiency and flexibility of those currently blended with transport fuels; 2) Devising new technologies to enhance and accelerate
the conversion of organic matter to biofuel molecules, with the aim of increasing the proportion of a crop which can be used to
produce feedstock; and 3) Using modern plant science to develop species that produce a higher yield of energy molecules and can be
grown on land not suitable for food production.
2010 -- The Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research opened.
The Eli and Edythe Broad
CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research opened its doors.
The center was established in 2006 with a gift from Eli and Edythe Broad,
and support from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine USC’s stem cell
research center will host world-class scientists who are harnessing the power
of stem cell biology to treat neurodegeneration; hearing loss; blood, heart and
kidney disease; osteoarthritis and bone fractures; and cancer.
Eli Broad is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. Broad founded and sold
two Fortune 500 companies in different industries: KB Home and SunAmerica.
2014 -- BD acquired CareFusion for $12.2 billion.
BD and CareFusion announced a definitive agreement whereby BD acquired CareFusion for $58.00 per share in cash
and stock, or a total of $12.2 billion, to create a global leader in medication management and patient safety solutions.
Under the terms of the transaction, CareFusion shareholders received $49.00 in cash and 0.0777 of a share of BD
for each share of CareFusion, or a total of $58.00 per CareFusion share based on BD’s closing price as of Oct. 3, 2014.
2015 -- Sanford-Burnham announced $100 million gift from San Diego developer Conrad Prebys.
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute announced it received a gift of $100 million from prominent
San Diego developer, philanthropist, and Sanford-Burnham honorary trustee Conrad Prebys. This is the largest
donation ever made by Prebys and will be used to further implement the Institute's 10-year strategic vision to
accelerate the delivery of innovative new treatments that will have a tangible impact on improving human health.
In recognition of Prebys’ contribution, The Institute will bear his name, along with the other Institute namesakes T.
Denny Sanford and Malin Burnham.
2016 -- $200 million gift launched the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC.
In May 2016, technology entrepreneur Larry Ellison announced the donation $200 million to establish the Lawrence J. Ellison
Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC, a new center in Los Angeles that will combine interdisciplinary
research with the holistic prevention and treatment of cancer. The building will house interdisciplinary
cancer research laboratories focused on scientific discovery and innovation.
2016 -- USC received $25 million gift to name USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology.
In Sept. 2016, USC Trustee Marc Benioff ’86 and his wife, Lynne, gifted $20 million toward construction of the
Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC, a new center in Los Angeles that combines
interdisciplinary research with the holistic prevention and treatment of cancer.
In recognition of the gift, the lobby of the Ellison Institute was named in honor of Marc Benioff’s late father,
Russell Benioff. A pioneer of cloud computing and chairman and CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff has served as a
member of the USC Board of Trustees since 2010.
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