Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, History Of

Questions on this topic? Just ask!

Realizing the potential dangers of moving genes from one organism to another, approximately ninety prominent scientists, whose laboratories were poised to start cloning experiments, met in 1975 at the Asilomar Conference Center in California to discuss the potential dangers of gene manipulation. This meeting, wherein scientists recognized and openly discussed the ramifications and potential dangers of their research before that research was actually begun, was unprecedented. The result of the Asilomar Conference was to call for and agree upon a one-year moratorium before any cloning experiments were to be done. This provided time to develop guidelines for the physical and biological isolation of recombinant organisms, to ensure that they not escape into the environment, and, if they did, to make sure that they would be so weakened as not to survive competition with naturally occurring organisms. By 1976, then, gene cloning was in full swing around the world.

Key Technical Developments

Advances in biotechnology were marked by the development of key research techniques. In 1976, Herbert Boyer and Robert Swanson founded Genentech, the first biotechnology company to use recombinant DNA technology in developing commercially useful products such as drugs. The year 1977 is considered the "dawn of modern biotechnology," for it was in that year that the first human protein was cloned and manufactured using genetic engineering technology: Genentech reported the cloning of the human hormone somatostatin.

Read the rest of this Article with our Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, History Of Access Pass.