1. Objective EB01.02 Essential Standard:
Discuss historical applications of biotechnology
Essential Question:
How long has Biotechnology been around?

2. 1750 BC
The Sumerians brew beer.

3. 400 BC
Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” created a high standard of ethics and wrote the Hippocratic Oath.

4. 1797
Edward Jenner inoculates a child with a viral vaccine to protect him from smallpox.

5. 1863
Gregor Mendel, in his study of peas, discovers that traits were transmitted from parents to progeny by discrete, independent units, later called genes. His observations laid the groundwork for the field of genetics.

6. 1883
The first rabies vaccine is developed by Louis Pasteur.

7. 1906
The term "genetics" is introduced.

8. 1928
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, the first antibiotic.

9. 1952
Rosalind Franklin produces early data about the structure of DNA.

10. 1953
James Watson and Francis Crick reveal the three-dimensional structure of DNA.

11. 1970
Dr. Norman Borlaug, agricultural researcher and pioneer in feeding the world’s population, wins the Nobel Price for Peace.

12. 1973
Stanley Cohen and Hebert Boyer perform the first successful recombinant DNA experiment, using bacterial genes.

13. 1978
The first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in England.

14. 1981
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was identified as a disease.

15. 1982
Humulin, Genentech'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.

16. 1984
The DNA fingerprinting technique is developed.

17. 1987
Dr. Ben Carson was the first surgeon to successfully separate Siamese twins joined at the head.

18. 1988
Congress funds the Human Genome Project, a massive effort to map and sequence the human genetic code as well as the genomes of other species.

19. 1990
The first federally approved gene therapy treatment is performed successfully on a 4-year-old girl suffering from an immune disorder.

20. 1997
Ian Wilmut (Scotland) is credited with cloning a sheep, Dolly, using DNA from adult sheep cells.

21. 2000
Kenya field tests its first biotech crop, a virus resistant sweet potato

22. 2001
President Bush decides to permit federal funding of research using existing stem cell lines, allowing researchers to continue seeking cures for debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

23. 2003
The Human Genome Project sequencing was completed.

24. 2004
UN Food and Ag Organization endorses biotech crops

25. 2006
USDA grants Dow AgroSciences the first approval for a plant made vaccine

26. 2010
J. Craig Venter Institute created the first synthetic cell.