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Period: to
Generation Y medical discoveries
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Erradication of smallpox
Polio InformationIn 1980, after decades of efforts by the World Health Organization, the World Health Assembly endorsed a statement declaring smallpox eradicated.
Smallpox eradication was accomplished with a combination of focused surveillance—quickly identifying new smallpox cases—and ring vaccination. “Ring vaccination” meant that anyone who could have been exposed to a smallpox patient was tracked down and vaccinated as quickly as possible, effectively corralling the disease and preventing its further spread. -
Fonar Corporation marketed its first MRI machine
Tesla society
This machine creates images of the human body using the principle of nuclear magnetic resonance. It can generate thin-section images of any part of the human body - from any angle and direction.
Inventor: Raymond Vahan Damadian -
Hepatitis B: First Subunit Viral Vaccine in U.S.
The vaccine proved effective at preventing hepatitis B. But, because of concerns about HIV infection, it was superseded in 1986 by a product that did not use human serum. This new effort produced the first vaccine based on recombinant technology--in this case, changing yeast cells so that they produced the protein that is the active ingredient in the current hepatitis B vaccine. -
Found the Huntington Disease genetic marker
James Gusella leads the team that finds a genetic marker for Huntington’s disease, a fatal inherited condition. This same gene-finding technique later enables scientists to find genetic markers for other inherited diseases. -
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS is identified
In April 1984, the National Cancer Institute announced they had found the cause of AIDS, the retrovirus HTLV-III. In a joint conference with the Pasteur Institute they announced that LAV and HTLV-III are identical and the likely cause of AIDS - See more at: http://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview#sthash.xYdzrk4H.dpuf -
DNA fingerprint
Alec Jeffreys produced the first DNA fingerprint. DNA-based testing methods have evolved over the years, but they still use DNA repeats as the basis for building a DNA profile. -
Prozac the wonder drug
Prozac is the registered trademarked name for fluoxetine hydrochloride and the world's most widely prescribed antidepressant to-date, the first product in a major new class of drugs for depression called selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.
Prozac works by increasing brain levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is thought to influence sleep, appetite, aggression and mood. -
Genome project launched
The Human Genome Project is launched in the USA, directed by James Watson..
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 -
Photodynamic therapy for macular degeneration
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary clinicians pioneer the use of photodynamic therapy for neovascular macular degeneration. -
Hepatitis A: Vaccine Licensed
The FDA licensed Maurice Hilleman’s hepatitis A vaccine.
