Biotech Timeline

By frobertson0
  • 6000 BCE

    Yogurt and Cheese

    Yogurt and Cheese
    Yogurt and cheese made with lactic acid-producing bacteria by various cultures.

  • Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

    Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
    Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovers and describes bacteria and protozoa.

  • Edward Jenner

    Edward Jenner
    Edward Jenner uses first viral vaccine to inoculate a child from smallpox.

  • Louis Pasteur

    Louis Pasteur
    Louis Pasteur discovers the bacterial origin of fermentation.

  • Gregor Mendel

    Gregor Mendel
    Gregor Mendel discovers the laws of inheritance.

  • Robert Koch

    Robert Koch
    Robert Koch develops a technique for staining bacteria for identification.

  • Louis Pasteur

    Louis Pasteur
    Louis Pasteur develops vaccines against bacteria that cause cholera and anthrax in chickens.

  • Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux

    Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux
    Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux developed the first rabies vaccine and use it on Joseph Meister.

  • Karl Ereky

    Karl Ereky
    Karl Ereky, a Hungarian agricultural engineer, first uses the word biotechnology.

  • Alexander Fleming

    Alexander Fleming
    Alexander Fleming notices that a certain mould could stop the duplication of bacteria, leading to the first antibiotic: penicillin.

  • James D. Watson and Francis Crick

    James D. Watson and Francis Crick
    James D. Watson and Francis Crick describe the structure of DNA.

  • Stanley Norman and Herbert Boyer

    Stanley Norman and Herbert Boyer
    Stanley Norman Cohen and Herbert Boyer perform the first successful recombinant DNA experiment, using bacterial genes.

  • Cohen and Boyer

    Cohen and Boyer
    The U.S. patent for gene cloning is awarded to Cohen and Boyer.

  • Humulin

    Humulin
    Humulin, Genetech's human insulin drug produced by genetically engineered bacteria for the treatment of diabetes, is the first biotech drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

  • PCR

    PCR
    The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique is conceived.

  • Gene Therapy

    Gene Therapy
    First federally approved gene therapy treatment is performed successfully on a young girl who suffered from an immune disorder.

  • Flavr Savr Tomato

    Flavr Savr Tomato
    The USDA approves the first GM food: the "Flavr Savr" tomato.

  • Dolly

    Dolly
    British scientists, led by Ian Wilmut from the Roslin Institute, report cloning Dolly the sheep using DNA from two adult sheep cells

  • Human Genome Project

    Human Genome Project
    Completion of a "rough draft" pf the human genome in the [Human Genome Project].

  • Rice

    Rice
    Rice becomes the first crop to have its genome decoded.

  • Human Genome Project

    Human Genome Project
    The HGP is completed, providing information on the locations and sequence pf human genes on all 46 chromosomes.

  • Alex Zettl

    Alex Zettl
    The first Nanoradio is discovered by Alex Zettl.

  • Kibo

    Kibo
    Japanese astronomers launched the first Medical Experiment Module call "Kibo", to be used on the International Space Station.

  • Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute

    Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute
    Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute uses modified SAN heart genes to create the first viral peacemaker in guinea pigs, now known as iSAN's.