Genetics Slides courtesy of Maureen Giacomazza , RN

History – From Mendel to Monica 1866 – Austrian botanist and monk Gregor Mendel proposes basic laws of heredity. 1883 – Francis Galton (cousin of Charles Darwin) advocate for improving the human race by means of selective breeding. Coins the word “eugenics”. 1932 – Aldous Huxley’s novel “Brave New World” presents the view (and difficulties) of genetic engineering.

History – From Mendel to Monica 1953 – American biochemist James Watson and British biophysicist Francis Crick announce their discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. Win the Nobel Prize for their discovery.

History – From Mendel to Monica 1973 – American biochemists Cohen and Boyer mark the beginning of genetic engineering with an experiment on toads. 1978 – Scientists from California clone the gene for human insulin (Recombinant DNA research)

History – From Mendel to Monica 1985 – First use of genetic fingerprinting in a criminal investigation.

History – From Mendel to Monica 1990 – American geneticist W. French Anderson performs the first gene therapy on a 4-year-old girl with an immune system disorder called SCID. (the “boy in the bubble”)

History – From Mendel to Monica 1990 – Publication of Michael Crichton’s novel Jurassic Park in which bioengineered dinosaurs roam a theme park with deadly results.

History – From Mendel to Monica 1995 – Former football player O.J. Simpson is found not guilty in a high-profile double murder trial. DNA plays a prominent but apparently unpersuasive role.

History – From Mendel to Monica 1997 - Scottish researchers, led by Ian Wilmut, report that they have cloned a sheep. Named “Dolly” because she was cloned from an adult ewe’s mammary gland.

History – From Mendel to Monica 1998 – DNA analysis of stains on a blue dress worn by Monica Lewinsky.

History – From Mendel to Monica and beyond! 1998 – Two research teams succeed in growing embryonic stem cells. 1998 – Scientists in Japan clone eight identical calves using cells taken from a single adult cow. 2003 – The Human Genome Project’s current target date for sequencing all human DNA.