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Event |
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Nirenberg was a biochemist and geneticist who shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Medicine for interpreting the genetic code and its function of protein synthesis. The Prize was given on the back of some experiments Nirenberg conducted in 1960 and 1961 which identified particular codons (3 chemical units of DNA) that specified each of the 20 amino acids that make up protein molecules.2010-01-15T00:00:00+0000| 15 Jan 2010 | | Marshall W Nirenberg diedNirenberg | National Institutes of Health | Genetics |
Khorana was an Indian chemist who shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Medicine for the elucidation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis. He helped demonstrate that the chemical composition and function of a new cell is determined by four nucleotides in DNA and that the nucleotide code is transmitted in groups of three, called codons, and these codons instruct the cell to start and stop the production of proteins. His work also laid the foundation for the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique that makes it possible to make billions of copies of small fragments of DNA. 2011-11-09T00:00:00+0000| 9 Nov 2011 | | Har Gobind Khorana diedKhorana | University of Wisconsin-Madison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | DNA, Genetics, PCR |
Zinder was an American biologist who discovered how hereditary information is transferred from one organism to another. The process is known as genetic transduction. Carrying out experiments with the bacteria species Salmonella, Zinder discovered that bacteriophages, a type of virus, carry genes from one bacterium to another. He did the work with Joshua Lederberg, his doctoral supervisor. 2012-02-03T00:00:00+0000| 3 Feb 2012 | | Norton David Zinder diedZinder | Rockefeller University | Genetics |
Dulbecco was an Italian-American virologist who in the 1950s helped to pioneer the growth of animal viruses in culture and work out how certain viruses cause tumours in the cells they infect. He and his colleagues demonstrated that the virus inserted DNA into the DNA of the host cell and this cell transformed into a cancer cell which reproduced the viral DNA along with its own thereby producing more cancer cell. This work not only aided better understanding of how viruses cause cancer, but also HIV. Dulbecco shared the 1975 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his 'discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell.' 2012-02-19T00:00:00+0000| 19 Feb 2012 | | Renato Dulbecco diedDulbecco | Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory | Genetics, Virology, Oncology |
2012-09-28T00:00:00+0000| 2012 | | European approval of decatabine (Dacogen) for treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia | | Epigenetics, Oncology |
Ruddle helped pioneer human gene mapping and established many of the techniques and a framework for setting up the Human Genome Project. He also generated, with Jon W. Gordon and George Scango the first successful transgenic mouse. This heralded the development of genetically modified animals as research models to investigate the function of genes and genetic cause of disease. Ruddle also discovered, with William McGinnis, the first human homeobox genes, important regulators of gene development. 2013-03-10T00:00:00+0000| 10 Mar 2013 | | Frank Ruddle died in New Haven, ConnecticutRuddle | Yale University | Genetics, Transgenic animals, Cloning |
2015-04-01T00:00:00+0000| Apr 2015 | | Chinese regulatory authorities approved Chidamide, a histone deactylase inhibitor, for peripheral T cell lymphoma | | Epigenetics, Oncology |
K.B. Chiappinelli, P.L. Strissel, A. Desrichard, et al, 'Inhibiting DNA methylation causes an interferon response in cancer via dsRNA including endogenous retroviruses', Cell, 162 (2015), 974-86.2015-08-27T00:00:00+0000| 27 Aug 2015 | | Experiments with mice showed that azacytidine treatment enhanced the responsiveness of tumors to anti–CTLA-4 therapy | | Cancer immunotherapy, Epigenetics, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Oncology |
Griffin was a leading expert on viruses that cause cancer. She was the first woman appointed to Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. In 1980 she completed the sequence of the poliovirus, the longest piece of eukaryotic DNA to be sequenced at that time. She devoted her life to understanding the Epstein-Barr virus, the cause of Burkitt's Lymphoma, a deadly form of cancer.
2016-06-13T00:00:00+0000| 13 Jun 2016 | | Beverly Griffin diedGriffin | Imperial College | DNA sequencing, genetics, oncology, virology |
Smithies was a British-born American geneticist and physical biochemist. He first made his mark in 1955 through his invention of starch gel electrophoresis, a technique used to study human protein variation. Later on, in the 1980s he developed a method for targeted gene replacement in mice, now known as gene targeting, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2007. His method paved the way to the creation of thousands of lines of mice carrying desired genetic mutations. Such mice are now widely used to investigate the role of many different genes in human health and disease. 2017-01-10T00:00:00+0000| 10 Jan 2017 | | Oliver Smithies diedSmithies | University of Washington, University of North Carolina | Genetics, Transgenic animals |
Discovery made as a result of study of 177 members of the Old Order of Amish community in Indiana. S. Khan, et al, 'A null mutation in SERPINE1 protects against biological aging in humans', Science Advances, 3/11 (2017), DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao16172017-11-15T00:00:00+0000| 15 Nov 2017 | | Rare mutation of gene called Serpine 1 discovered to protect against biological ageing processKhan, Shah, Klyachko, Baldridge, Eren, Place, Aviv, Puterman, Lloyd-Jones, Heiman, Miyata, Gupta, Shapiro, Vaughan | Northwestern University, University of British Columbia, New Jersey Medical School, Tohoku University, | DNA sequencing, Genetics, Genomics |
Sulston was a biologist. He played a central role in sequencing the genome of the Caenorhabditis elegans, a transparent nematode (roundworm). It was the first animal to have its genome sequenced. Based on his work with the nematode Sulston helped set up the project to sequence the human genome which he did as director of the Sanger Centre. The first draft of the human genome sequence was completed in 2000. Sulston shared the Nobel Prize in 2002 for identifying how genes regulate the life cycle of cells through apoptosis. 2018-03-09T00:00:00+0000| 9 Mar 2018 | | John E Sulson diedSulston | Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Sanger Institute | Cell, Genetics, DNA sequencing |
A team of scientists managed to engineer mice to express Cas9 and a DNA sequence needed for the gene drive, called a cassette, which encoded a guide RNA that targets a sequence in the TYR gene which affects the mouse coat colour. This provided a means of tracking the frequency of the genetic modification over several generations of mice. The work was published in HA Grunwald et al. 'Super-Mendelian inheritance mediated by CRISPR–Cas9 in the female mouse germline', Nature, January 23, 2019.2019-01-23T00:00:00+0000| 23 Jan 2019 | | CRISPR-Cas9 used to control genetic inheritance in miceGrunwald, Gntz, Poplawski, Xu, Bier, Cooper | University of California San Diego | CRISPR-Cas9, Genetics, Transgenic animals |
Born in South Africa, Brenner was a geneticist and biologist who shared the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine for helping to discover how genes regulate tissue and organ development. Using the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism, Brenner demonstrated that triplets of nucleotides within RNA encode the individual amino acids of a protein, and signals when protein manufacture should stop. 2019-04-05T00:00:00+0000| 5 Apr 2019 | | Sydney Brenner diedBrenner | Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Genetics |
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