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Stanley Cohen, Stanford University professor.
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Stanley Cohen on one of his many hikes.
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Stan Cohen on his boat Genesis. Cohen had a boat-naming contest. The winner received a bottle of wine and a cruise on the boat.
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Stan Cohen rejected the name "Titanic III" for his boat.
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Stan Cohen entertaining a crowd with the 5-string banjo.
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Herbert Boyer, cofounder of Genentech, Inc.
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Doug Hanahan, 1982, working in his lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
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1984 picture of Doug Hanahan (R) and Bruce Stillman, current Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Audio Glossary
Transgenic, VectorVideo Interviews
Doug Hanahan is a professor of biochemistry at UCSF. He refined transformation techniques, and developed the current theories on the mechanisms of DNA uptake.
Clip 1 (0:41)
Improving on the Mandel and Higa method of DNA transformation.
Clip 2 (0:58)
The problem of getting DNA into a bacteria.
Clip 3 (0:49)
How big are those bacterial pores?
Clip 4 (0:52)
Definitions of "cloning."
Clip 5 (0:24)
Size of DNA and transformation efficiencies.
Stan Cohen and Herb Boyer "invented" recombinant DNA technology. Doug Hanahan refined transformation methods for DNA uptake into bacteria. STANLEY NORMAN COHEN (1935-)
Stan Cohen was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. As a child, he was very interested in science, especially in how things worked. He built and assembled telephones, radios, and thought that he might become a physicist. He eventually changed his mind and decided he would rather be a medical doctor. After graduating from Rutgers College in 1956, Cohen went to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He finished his medical degree in 1960. During his residency, Cohen became more and more interested in basic research. While he was at the National Institutes of Health, he made the decision to combine basic research with clinical medicine. This would be similar to today’s more formal M.D./Ph.D. programs. He accepted a position at Stanford University’s medical school in 1968 and began experimenting with plasmids. Plasmids have clinical importance because of the drug resistance genes they carry. Leslie Shiu, a graduate student in Cohen’s lab, found that adding calcium chloride increases the chances that plasmid DNA would be incorporated by bacteria. Transformed bacteria would then maintain and propagate the plasmid DNA. Cohen saw the implications; this was a natural Xerox machine for DNA. If DNA could be first introduced into plasmids and then transformed into bacteria, then large quantities of DNA could be produced. Cohen worked on ways of breaking up the plasmids, and isolating usable fragments for cloning. In 1972, at a meeting in Hawaii, Cohen sat in on a talk by Herbert Boyer, who spoke about how a restriction enzyme, EcoRI, generated sticky ends. Later that night, a group including Boyer and Cohen met up at a deli. Boyer and Cohen discussed various ways they could collaborate. Recombinant DNA technology was born on a deli napkin. Cohen and Boyer eventually patented their technique – one of the first biotech patents granted. Cohen is a Professor of Genetics at Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1980, won the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1988. He enjoys skiing, hiking, playing the five-string banjo, and sailing on his boat Genesis. HERBERT W. BOYER (1936-)
Herb Boyer was born in Derry, Pennsylvania. He was a lineman on the varsity football team and was going to be a doctor. After high school, Boyer went to St. Vincent’s College and started with a “pre-med” curriculum. It didn’t take long for Boyer to realize that being a medical doctor was not what he wanted to do after all. By the time he graduated college in 1958 with a B.S. in biology and chemistry, Boyer had decided on a research career. He did graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania and then post-graduate work at Yale. In 1966, Boyer accepted an assistant professorship at the University of California, San Francisco. He became interested in the bacteria E. coli, specifically in the restriction enzymes that could be isolated from E. coli. At a conference in Hawaii in the early '70s, Boyer met Stanley Cohen who was working on plasmids – rings of extra chromosomal DNA. The two began a collaboration that eventually led to the creation of the first recombinant DNA. In 1975, Boyer met Robert Swanson who worked for a venture capital company. Swanson believed in the burgeoning biotech industry and in 1976, Genentech, Inc. was born. Genentech cloned and later developed the method for synthesizing human insulin using recombinant DNA technology. Genentech continues to be one of the biggest biotech companies in the world. In addition to founding the company and creating the biotech industry, Boyer, along with Cohen, patented the recombinant DNA technique. This is one of the first biopatents granted, and it generated a lot of income for Stanford University, a claimant on the patent. Boyer is currently professor emeritus at the University of California at San Francisco and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at Genentech, Inc. He and Cohen have won numerous awards for their discovery: 1996 Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention and Innovation, 1993 Swiss Helmut Horten Research Award, and 1980 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, among others. Boyer is a member of the California Inventors Hall of Fame, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He is an avid fisherman and enjoys the great outdoors. Boyer is also a pilot and a classic car buff. DOUGLAS HANAHAN (1951-)
Doug Hanahan was born in Seattle, Washington. His father was a biochemist and Hanahan was exposed to the world of the "scientist" early on. He did not have any special interest in science as a child, but he did go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a degree in physics in 1976. It was at M.I.T. that he first developed an interest in biology. He took a class taught by Salvatore Luria, which opened his eyes to the power of the genome. Until this class, Hanahan thought that biology was boring and involved memorizing the names of animals. He entered graduate school in the (then) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department at Harvard University to join the biology revolution. Although he was a Harvard graduate student, from 1979 to 1984 Hanahan spent his time at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). Cohen and Boyer's recombinant DNA technology had initiated a series of discussions as to its safety, and there were strict guidelines for working with bacterial strains and recombinant DNA. CSHL was one of the facilities on the East Coast that had the type of containment facilities set up to do recombinant DNA work. By experimentation, Hanahan was able to improve on the method used to introduce DNA into bacteria. This, and his theories on the mechanism of DNA uptake constituted the bulk of his thesis work. Hanahan stayed at CSHL as a staff scientist until 1988. He took advantage of the small, intimate community of scientists at CSHL to explore and develop his interest in other areas of biology. Hanahan became particularly interested in oncogenes and how they worked. This is currently his main research interest. In 1988, Hanahan accepted a position at the University of California, San Francisco where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Hormone Research Institute. Hanahan enjoys playing tennis and sailing; both activities that he first took up while at CSHL. He also chases after his toddlers and grows orchids. | |
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LinksFrom Corned Beef to CloningA personal perspective from Dr. Stanley Cohen and Dr. Herbert Boyer about their recombinant DNA experiments. This is part of the Access Excellence web site. Biotechnology at 25: The FoundersA 1998 biotech exhibit from the University of California, Berkley library. The site has photos documenting Cohen and Boyer's experiments. Bibliography
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