The following includes select facts from life science history, both global and Minnesota state specific,
that help explain the origins of the state's life science industry. Please note that these facts are part of a much larger state-specific
history database that will be launched in the near future. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn about the scientists behind
the discoveries, the entrepreneurs, philanthropists, political leaders, and significant events, institutions
and companies that are the foundation of the life science industry in the state of Minnesota.
If you are aware of a notable event, person, organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail us at: Suggestions@InfoResource.org
1848 -- American Association for the Advancement of Science was founded.
American Association for the Advancement of Science founded in 1848
marked the emergence of a national scientific community in the United States, and was the first organization
established to promote the development of science and engineering at the national level and to represent the interests of
all its disciplines.
Today, the AAAS serves nearly 300 affiliated societies and academies of science and publishes the
peer-reviewed general science journal Science. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance
science and serve society" through initiatives that include science policy, international programs, science education,
and public understanding of science.
1851 -- University of Minnesota was founded as a preparatory school.
In 1851, the University of Minnesota (UM) was founded
as a preparatory school, but financial problems forced it's closure during the Civil War. In 1867,
it reopened with the help of Minneapolis entrepreneur John Sargent Pillsbury,
who later was a University regent, state senator, and governor who used his
influence to establish the school through the Morrill Land-Grant Act, as Minnesota's
land-grant university.
Today, the University of Minnesota, has four campuses, and is one of the most comprehensive
universities in the U.S., and is a major research institution, with scholars and technology
development of national and international reputation.
1859 -- Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species."
In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life"
in which he postulated his theory of evolution that explained how the diverse of
species on Earth evolved from a simple, singled-celled ancestor.
Darwin's theory of evolutionary selection holds that variation within species occurs randomly
and that the survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism's ability
to adapt to its environment. Darwin's theory of evolution remains the foundation of modern
biology.
1865 -- Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, presented his laws of heredity.
Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian considered the father of modern genetics,
conducted crossbreeding experiments with pea plants between 1856 and 1863. Through this work,
he established many of the rules of heredity.
"In 1859 I obtained a very fertile descendant with large, tasty seeds from a first generation
hybrid. Since in the following year, its progeny retained the desirable characteristics
and were uniform, the variety was cultivated in our vegetable garden, and many plants were
raised every year up to 1865. (Gregor Mendel to Carl Nägeli, April 1867).
1887 -- Marine Hospital Service Hygienic Laboratory (National Institutes of Health) was founded.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) traces its roots to 1887,
when a one-room laboratory was created within the Marine Hospital Service (MHS), predecessor agency to the
U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The MHS was established in 1798 to provide for the medical care of
merchant seamen -- charged by Congress with examining passengers on arriving ships for clinical signs of
infectious diseases, such as cholera and yellow fever, to prevent epidemics.
During the 1870s and 1880s, scientists in Europe presented compelling evidence that microscopic organisms
were the causes of several infectious diseases, and MHS officials closely followed these developments.
In 1887, Joseph Kinyoun, a MHS physician trained in the new bacteriological
methods, set up a one-room laboratory in the Marine Hospital at Stapleton, Staten Island,
New York. Kinyoun called this facility a "laboratory of hygiene" in imitation of German facilities, and within
a few months, he identified the cholera bacillus and used his Zeiss microscope to
demonstrate it to his colleagues as confirmation of their clinical diagnoses
(Photo: courtesy of the NIH Almanac).
1902 -- Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. was founded.
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. (3M) founded by five businessmen in Two Harbors, MN
to mine mineral deposits for grinding-wheel abrasives. The venture was unsuccessful
and the company relocated to nearby Duluth to develop sandpaper products.
In the early 1920s, 3M produced world's first waterproof sandpaper which reduced
airborne dusts during automobile manufacturing, and in 1925 lab assistant Richard G. Drew
invented masking tape a first step toward diversification and the first of many Scotch®
pressure-sensitive tapes.
In the 1940s and 1950s, 3M expanded into new markets including reflective sheeting for
highway markings, magnetic sound recording tape, filament adhesive tape, offset printing
plates, dry-silver microfilm, carbonless papers, overhead projection systems, and a
rapidly growing new health care business of medical and dental products. In the 1970s and
1980s 3M expanded into pharmaceuticals, radiology and energy control, and the well known
Post-it® Notes.
Today, 3M Health Care, the largest of seven major 3M businesses, is
dedicated to improving the practice, delivery and outcome of care in medical, dental,
pharmaceutical, health information and personal care markets. 3M Drug Delivery Systems
Division, part of the 3M Health Care family, is a global leader in the development of
inhalation and transdermal technologies. As the creator of the first metered-dose inhaler,
the division's history spans more than 50 years of medical innovation as a true pioneer of
these technologies in both components as well as total drug delivery systems.
1902 -- The Biologics Control Act was established.
The Biologics Control Act, established in 1902, had major consequences for the Hygienic Laboratory. It charged
the laboratory with regulating the production of vaccines and antitoxins, making it a regulatory agency
four years before passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. The danger posed by biological products that had
emerged from bacteriologic discoveries resulted from their production in animals and their administration by
injection. In 1901, thirteen children in St. Louis died after receiving diphtheria antitoxin contaminated
with tetanus spores. This tragedy spurred Congress to pass the Biologics Control Act, and between 1903-1907
standards were established and licenses issued to pharmaceutical firms for making smallpox and rabies vaccines,
diphtheria and tetanus antitoxins, and various other antibacterial antisera. (In 1972, responsibility
for regulation of biologics was transferred to the Food and Drug Administration).
The Marine Hospital Service (MHS), established in 1798, was reorganized in 1912
and renamed the Public Health Service (PHS). The PHS was authorized to conduct research into
noncontagious diseases and into the pollution of streams and lakes in the U.S. During
World War I, the PHS attended primarily to sanitation of areas around military bases in the
U.S., and when the 1918 influenza pandemic struck Washington, physicians from the
laboratory were pressed into service treating patients in the District of Columbia because
so many local doctors had fallen ill.
1902 -- Archer-Daniels-Midland Company was founded.
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) was founded
in Minnespolis as a linseed crushing business in 1902 by George A. Archer and John W. Daniels.
In 1923, Archer-Daniels Linseed Company acquired Midland Linseed Products Company, and the
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company was formed. In 1969, ADM moved its corporate headquarters
and research laboratory to Decatur, Illinois.
Today, ADM is a world leader in agricultural processing and one of the world's
largest processors of soybeans, corn, wheat and cocoa. ADM is also a leader in the production of
soy meal and oil, ethanol, corn sweeteners, flour, and value-added
food and feed ingredients.
1914 -- The Mayo Clinic was established.
The Mayo Clinic evolved
gradually from the frontier practice of Dr. William Worrall Mayo
and his two sons, William J. and Charles H. Mayo. Mayo Foundation is a charitable,
not-for-profit organization based in Rochester, Minnesota. Its mission is to provide
the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education
and research.
More than five million people have been treated at Mayo Clinic since its frontier
founding. Today it encompasses three clinics and four hospitals in three states,
employing more than 34,000 physicians, scientists, nurses and allied health workers.
1918 -- Spanish Influenza Pandemic.
It is estimated that between 25 and 40 million people died
from the the influenza outbreak that began in 1918, swept across America in a week and
around the world in three months. In all, between 500,000 and 700,000 Americans
--civilians and soldiers-- died from the influenza, more than were lost in World War I,
II, and the Korean and Viet Nam wars combined.
On September 29, civilian, military, and school officials jointly declared that influenza had made
its way into Minneapolis. The first case, which appeared on September 27, was later identified in a man
who had visited his son in Camp Dix, New Jersey. Approximately 150 cases were reported in the city,
the vast majority among cadets and soldiers from University of Minnesota Student Army Training Corps units
or the small detachment at the Dunwoody Institute Training Camp.
By the first days of October, Minneapolis’s civilian and military authorities estimated approximately 1,000
cases of influenza, which included over 500 sick army soldiers at Fort Snelling Hospital. By October 19, the
number of cases in the city had reached nearly 3,000. In Minneapolis, the epidemic was slowly declining.
On October 27, only 39 new civilian cases of influenza were reported, by far the lowest number since
the early days of the epidemic. Minneapolis’s influenza measures were lifted on Friday, November 15.
But by early-December, the city once again began experiencing a rise in cases, common
in cities throughout the Midwest and West. Over the course of January, the influenza situation in
the Twin Cities steadily improved. Using the official U.S. Census Bureau influenza and pneumonia death counts
from the beginning of the fall wave of the epidemic through the end of February 1919, Minneapolis had an excess
death rate of 267 per 100,000.
1921 -- Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association (Land O'Lakes) founded.
In 1921, representatives from 320 Minnesota co-op creameries met in St. Paul to establish
the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association (Land O'Lakes)
to help the creameries boost the price they
receive for their butter by improving quality and by strengthening the creameries' marketing
efforts. In 1924, a contest was held to find a name for the new, sweet cream butter being
marketed by the Association and "Land O'Lakes" was selected as the winning name.
In 1926, the popularity of the Land O'Lakes name prompted the Association to change its
name to Land O'Lakes Creameries, Inc. Today, Land O'Lakes extends its reach from coast-to-coast
and to more than 50 countries worldwide.
1930 -- The name of the Hygienic Laboratory was changed to the National Institute of Health.
In 1930, the Ransdell Act changed the name of the Hygienic Laboratory to the National Institute
of Health (NIH) and authorized the establishment of fellowships for research into basic biological and medical
problems. The roots of this act extended to 1918, when chemists who had worked with the Chemical Warfare
Service in World War I sought to establish an institute in the private sector to apply fundamental knowledge
in chemistry to problems of medicine.
1933 -- Thomas Hunt Morgan was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his
chromosome theory of heredity.
Thomas Hunt Morgan pioneered the new science of genetics through experimental
research with the fruit fly (Drosophila), laying the foundations for the future of biology. On
the basis of fly-breeding experiments he demonstrated that genes are linked in a series on
chromosomes and that they determine indentifiable, hereditary traits.
1937 -- The National Cancer Institute was created.
In 1937, the National
Cancer Institute (NCI) was created with sponsorship from every Senator in Congress, and was authorized
to award grants to nonfederal scientists for research on cancer and to fund fellowships at NCI for young
researchers.
Today, the NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the federal government's
principal agency for cancer research and training.
1944 -- Public Health Service Act was established.
The 1944 Public Health Service Act defined the shape of medical research in the post-war world.
The entire NIH budget expanded from $8 million in 1947 to more than $1 billion in
1966, now fondly remembered as "the golden years" of NIH expansion. The 1944 PHS Act
authorized NIH to conduct clinical research, and after the war Congress provided funding to
build a research hospital, now called the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center on the
NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The Center which opened in 1953 with 540 beds
was designed to bring research laboratories into close proximity with hospital wards in
order to promote productive collaboration between laboratory scientists and clinicians.
The NIH today, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency
for conducting and supporting medical research and is composed of 27 Institutes and Centers, providing
leadership and financial support to researchers in every state and throughout the world.
1947 -- Transistor was invented at AT&T's Bell Laboratories.
The transistor, the invention that marked the dawn of the
information age, was invented by John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain at AT&T's Bell Laboratories. Bardeen,
Shockley and Brattain were awarded the 1956
Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the transistor effect.
Transistors have become an invisible technology that is
part of almost every electronic device. Every major information age innovation was made
possible by the transistor and its application can be found all around us.
In 1949, Earl E. Bakken and and his brother-in-law Palmer Hermundslie form Medtronic to repair electronic hospital equipment, based on
Earl's part-time work at Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Earl, an electrical engineering graduate student at the University of Minnesota
left his graduate studies, Palmer quit his job with a local lumber firm, and together they moved into 600-square-foot garage in northeast
Minneapolis. In the early 1950s, the company's revenues came from sales of other manufacturers' products, but researchers frequent requests for
modifed equipment and new specialiazed testing devices resulted in the company building custom-made products including
external defibrillators, forceps, an animal respirator, a cardiac rate monitor, and a physiologic stimulator.
In the mid-1950s, Bakken's acquaintance with Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, a pioneer in open heart surgery at the University of Minnesota
Medical School, lead to the development a new kind of wearable, external, battery-powered pacemaker -- the beginning of a new era
in the therapeutic application of electrical technology for patients around the world. In 1960, Medtronic acquired exclusive rights to
produce and market the new Chardack-Greatbatch implantable pulse generator from Drs. William Chardack and Andrew Gage at the Veterans
Administration Hospital in Buffalo, New York, and at the same time significantly expanded sales offices throughout the United States
and Canada.
Today, Medtronic is a global leader in medical technology, alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people
around the world with its Headquarters in Minneapolis and regional headquarters in Switzerland and Japan, the company employs approximately
32,000 people worldwide.
1953 -- Double helix structure of DNA was revealed.
The double helix structure of DNA, the hereditary molecule is revealed by
two scientists, James D. Watson and Francis Crick. This is one of the key
discoveries of the century. Watson and Crick shared the 1962
Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with Maurice Wilkins for their discoveries
concerning the molecular structure of nuclear acids and its significance for information
transfer in living material.
Jack Kilby, an engineer at
Texas Instruments shows only a transistor and other components on a slice of
germanium. This invention (7/16-by-1/16-inches in size), called an integrated
circuit, revolutionized the electronics industry. Kilby was awarded
the 2000 Nobel Prize in
Physics for his invention of the integrated circuit.
(Photo: Jack Kilby courtesy of Texas Instruments)
Jack Kilby went on to pioneer military, industrial, and commercial applications of
microchip technology. He headed teams that built both the first military system and the
first computer incorporating integrated circuits. He later co-invented both the hand-held
calculator and the thermal printer that was used in portable data terminals.
Mr. Kilby officially retired from TI in 1983, but he maintained a significant involvement
with the company throughout his life.
1961 -- President John F. Kennedy expanded the U.S. Space Program
Listen to President John F. Kennedy's speech in
his historic message to a joint session of the Congress, on May 25, 1961 declared,
"...I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade
is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." This goal was
achieved when astronaut Neil A. Armstrong became the first human to set foot upon the
Moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT, July 20, 1969. Shown in the background are, (left) Vice
President Lyndon Johnson, and (right) Speaker of the House Sam T. Rayburn. The expansion of
the U.S. Space Program resulted in the development of a wide range of technology with
enormous benefit to human and animal kind.
(Photo: courtesy National Aeronautics & Space Administration)
1968 -- University of Minnesota team performed the first successful human bone marrow transplant.
In 1968, A University of Minnesota team lead by Robert Alan Good performed the first successful human
bone marrow transplant between persons who were not identical twins and is regarded as a founder of modern immunology.
Good, born in Crosby, Minnesota, attended the University of Minnesota and its medical school, receiving a B.A. degree
in 1944, and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in 1947.
1969 -- Man walked on the moon.
In July of 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, American astronauts, made
history by becoming the first men to walk on the moon.
Listen to Neil Armstrong's first words as he steps onto the lunar
surface (66 kb .wav file). Photo: Courtesy of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration)
An important benefit of the Apollo Lunar Program and
other NASA programs is the ever-growing pipeline of technology that improves human and
veterinary healthcare diagnostics and therapeutics.
1969 -- Victor McKusick published "Mendelian Inheritance in Man".
Victor McKusick, widely acknowledged as the father of medical genetics, spent his career studying
the genetic basis of diseases and disorders with the belief that such an understanding could lead
to new methods of diagnosis and treatment. He studied, identified, and mapped genes responsible for
inherited conditions such as Marfan syndrome and dwarfism (specifically in Amish communities).
In 1969, he proposed the idea of mapping the human genome, over 30 years before the Human
Genome Project was established.
McKusick, a graduate of Johns Hopkins (M.D. 1946), spent his entire career there and founded
the Division of Medical Genetics in 1957, the first research center and clinic of its kind. In
1969 he published the 1st edition of his
book "Mendelian Inheritance of Man",
one of the most comprehensive collections of inherited disease genes. In 2002, McKusick received the
highest scientific honor in the U.S., the National Medal of Science.
1970 -- Norman Borlaug was awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
Born of Norwegian descent, Dr. Borlaug was raised in Cresco, Iowa, a small farming community in northeast Iowa.
He learned his work ethic on a small mixed crop and livestock family farm and obtained initial education
in a one-room rural school house. In 1944, Dr. Borlaug participated in the Rockefeller Foundation's pioneering
technical assistance program in Mexico, where he was a research scientist in charge of wheat improvement. It
was on the research stations and farmers' fields of Mexico that Dr. Borlaug developed successive generations
of wheat varieties with broad and stable disease resistance, broad adaptation to growing conditions across
many degrees of latitude, and with exceedingly high yield potential.
These new wheat varieties and improved crop management practices transformed agricultural production in Mexico
during the 1940's and 1950's and later in Asia and Latin America, sparking what today is known as the
"Green Revolution." Because of his achievements to prevent hunger, famine and misery around the world, it is
said that Dr. Borlaug has "saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived." (Courtesy of The World
Food Prize Foundation).
1971 -- NASDAQ Stock Market was founded.
NASDAQ Stock Market was founded as the world's first electronic stock market by the
National Association of Securities Dealers. The NASDAQ system, created by the Bunker Ramos
Corp. allowed the financial community, for the first time, to determine which market
offered the best price on a given security.
1971 -- President Nixon declared war on cancer creating the Cancer Centers Program of the National Cancer Institute.
On Dec. 23, 1971, the National Cancer Act of 1971, enacted by President Richard Nixon as part of the
nation’s war on cancer, established the Cancer Centers Program of the National Cancer Institute.
The National Cancer Act, "The War on Cancer," gave the NCI unique autonomy at NIH with special budgetary authority.
The annual budget of NCI, called the bypass budget, be submitted directly to the president, bypassing traditional
approval by the NIH or the Department of HHS required of other NIH institutes.
1973 -- Recombinant DNA was perfected.
The modern era of biotechnology begins when Stanley Cohen of Stanford University and Herbert Boyer of the University of
California at San Francisco successfully recombined ends of bacterial DNA after splicing a toad gene in between. They
called their accomplishment recombinant DNA, but the media preferred the term genetic engineering.
(Photo: Courtesy Stanley Cohen)
Boyer and Cohen's achievement was an advancement upon the techniques developed by Paul Berg, in 1972,
for inserting viral DNA into bacterial DNA. Cohen's research at Stanford was with plasmids—the nonchromosomal, circular
units of DNA found in, and exchanged by, bacteria, while Boyer's was restriction enzymes produced by bacteria to counter
invasion by bacteriophages.
1974 -- Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) was enacted.
John N. Erlenborn, the ranking Republican on the House Committee, was responsible for
bringing the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to a floor vote, and
is one of the ERISA’s "Founding Fathers." Together with Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY), Senator
Pete Williams (D-NJ) and Congressman John Dent (D-PA), Erlenborn crafted provisions and
participated in negotiations that were instrumental to the enactment of ERISA which was - and
remains - the single most important legislation governing employee benefit plans in the United
States creating a growing source of new capital.
(Photos: Jacob Javits and Pete Williams courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office).
1975 -- Monoclonal antibodies were produced.
In 1975, Georges Köhler and César Milstein, showed how monoclonal antibodies can be generated by
isolating individual fused myeloma cells.
Genentech was founded by venture
capitalist Robert Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. In the early 1970s, Boyer
and geneticist Stanley Cohen at Stanford University pioneered recombinant DNA technology.
Within a few short years Swanson and Boyer invented a new industry - biotechnology.
In 1980, Genentech issued its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and raised $35 million
with an offering that jumped from $35 a share to a high of $88 after less than an
hour on the market. This event was one of the largest stock run-ups ever, and that
event set the stage for future biotechnolgy industry offerings.
1977 -- First human gene was cloned.
Walter Gilbert induced bacteria to synthesize insulin and interferon, and Frederick Sanger
published the complete sequence of phage FX174. The 1980 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry was
awarded jointly to Frederick Sanger and Walter Gilbert for "for their contributions concerning
the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids, and to Paul Berg for his fundamental
studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA.
1979 -- The first use of artificial blood in a patient conducted at the University
of Minnesota Hospital.
1980 -- U.S. Supreme Court ruled man-made organism patentable.
Diamond v. Chakrabarty, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds five-to-four the patentability of
genetically altered organisms, opening the door to greater patent protection for any
modified life forms.
In 1972, Mohan Chakrabarty, a microbiologist, filed a patent
application, assigned to the General Electric Co. for a human-made genetically engineered
bacterium capable of breaking down multiple components of crude oil. Because of this
property, which is possessed by no naturally occurring bacteria, Chakrabarty's invention
was believed to have significant value for the treatment of oil spills. The application
asserted 36 claims related to Chakrabarty's invention of "a bacterium from the genus
Pseudomonas containing therein at least two stable energy-generating plasmids, each of
said plasmids providing a separate hydrocarbon degradative pathway.
Opinions: Chief Justice Warren Burger delivered the opinion
of the Court, in which justices Potter Stewart, Harry Blackmun, William Rehnquist, and
John Paul Stevens joined. William Brennan filed a dissenting opinion, in which Byron
White, Thurgood Marshall, and Lewis Powell joined.
1980 -- Bayh-Dole Act provided for university technology transfer.
H.R.6933, Public Law: 96-517, December 12, 1980. A bill to amend title
35 of the United States Code. This Act known as the Bayh-Dole Act provided for the legal transfer of research and
technology originating from U.S. universities and federal laboratories to private
companies for commercialization. Technology transfer offices are now common in
universities and federal laboratories and are the technology foundation for numerous
biotechnology and medical device companies. (Photos: Birch Bayh and
Robert Dole courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office)
1983 -- Orphan Drug Act was created.
The Orphan Drug Act
encouraged the research and development of drugs for rare or "orphan" diseases defined as a disease or condition that
affects fewer than 200,000 Americans.
The Orphan Drug Act provided for financial incentives to help companies recover the cost of developing much needed
therapies for small patient populations. The FDA estimates that more than 11 million patients in the U.S. and millions
more around the world, have benefited from this legislation.
1984 -- Medical Alley® was founded.
Medical Alley®, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit trade
association, founded to support Minnesota’s health care industry.
1984 -- Alec Jeffreys and technician Vicky Wilson discovered minisatellites leading to the development of genetic fingerprinting.
In 1984, geneticist Sir Alec Jeffreys, and technician Vicky Wilson at the University of
Leicester in England discovered minisatellites leading to the development of genetic fingerprinting.
The new technology was first used in 1985 to resolve a disputed immigration case
that confirmed the identity of a British boy whose family was from Ghana.
In 1988, Colin Pitchfork was convicted of murdering two girls in 1983 and 1986 in
Narborough, Leicestershire, England after his DNA samples matched semen samples
taken from the two dead girls. Jeffreys' work in this case convicted the
killer, but also exonerated Richard Buckland, a suspect who otherwise might
have spent his life in prison. In 1994, Jeffreys' was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II for his services to genetics.
1990 -- Human Genome Project was established.
The U.S. Human Genome
Project was established -- a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S.
Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The main goals of the
Human Genome Project were to provide a complete and accurate sequence of the 3 billion
DNA base pairs that make up the human genome and to find all of the estimated 20,000 to
25,000 human genes. The project, originally planned to last 15 years, was expected
to be completed by 2003 due to rapid technological advances.
1991 -- Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota founded.
Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota was founded
in 1991 as part of the University's Academic Health Center, which includes the Medical School, Dental School,
College of Pharmacy, and Schools of Public Health and Veterinary Medicine.
The Masonic Cancer Center's research partners include the University's Stem Cell Institute, Center for
Immunology, Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and the Institute of Human Genetics; and its clinical
research and treatment partners include the University of Minnesota Physicians; University of Minnesota Medical
Center; and University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital.
In 1991, The National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota
a comprehensive cancer center in 1998, and in 2003 and 2009, NCI renewed this designation.
1991 -- MNBIO was founded.
The MNBIO,
a non-profit trade organization, was founded in 1991 to promote the steady growth of
Minnesota's life sciences industry through partnerships of industry, financial resources,
academia, and government.
In 2005, MNBIO merged with Medical Alley®, representing the medical device
industry, to provide a more focused effort in supporting the human health, agricultural and
industrial biosciences in Minnesota.
1993 -- Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) was founded.
Biotechnology Industry
Organization is the world's largest organization to serve and represent the
biotechnology industry. BIO's leadership and service-oriented guidance have helped advance
the industry and bring the benefits of biotechnology to people everywhere.
1993 -- Kary B. Mullis was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
PCR allows scientists to quickly replicate small strands of DNA, greatly simplifying
the sequencing and cloning of genes. First presented in 1985, PCR has become one of
the most widespread methods of analyzing DNA. Notably, PCR requires the heat-stable enzyme
Taq (Thermus Aquaticus) which originated from hot springs located in Yellowstone
National Park.
2001 -- Human Genome Project draft sequence was published.
The February 16 issue of Science and February
15 issue of Nature contained the working draft of the human genome
sequence (U.S. Human Genome
Project). Nature papers included initial analysis of the descriptions of the sequence
generated by the publicly sponsored Human Genome Project, while Science publications focused
on the draft sequence reported by the private company, Celera Genomics.
2003 -- Peter Agre was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Agre, raised in Northfield, received his B.A. in Chemistry from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and his M.D.
in 1974 from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Agre was elected to membership
in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American
Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Society for
Microbiology.
2003 -- The Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics was formed.
The Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics
was formed in 2003 as a unique collaborative venture among Mayo Clinic, University of
Minnesota, and State of Minnesota. The idea was born out of a desire to elevate Minnesota’s
position in the area of bioscience research.
The Partnership's research takes place at both institutions — cooperatively. The teams made
up of scientists, researchers, and clinicians from both institutions are the real embodiment of
the Partnership. They meet regularly, communicate constantly and publish jointly. The
Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics continues to assess ways to
accommodate laboratory and other space needs on the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, as
well as key infrastructure locations at the University's Twin Cities campus.
2005 -- Medical Alley® and MNBIO merged.
Medical Alley®, representing the medical device
industry, and MNBIO representing the biotechnology industry merged to provide a more focused
effort in supporting the human health, agricultural and industrial biosciences in Minnesota.
MNBIO was a non-profit trade organization that was founded in 1991 to promote the steady growth of
Minnesota's life sciences industry through partnerships of industry, financial resources,
academia, and government.
2007 -- The National Institutes of Health established the Human Microbiome Project.
On Dec. 19, 2007, the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), a $150 million initiative, was established by the National
Institutes of Health with the mission of generating resources that would enable the comprehensive characterization of
the human microbiome and analysis of its role in human health and disease.
The HMP is the collection of all
the microorganisms living in association with the human body, including eukaryotes, archaea, bacteria and viruses.
Bacteria in an average human body number ten times more than human cells, for a total of about 1000 more genes
than are present in the human genome.
Learn about the history of the life science industry in other states:
If you are aware of a notable event or person at your company or organization
that should be included in Minnesota Life Science History, please e-mail us
at: suggestions@inforesource.org.
The 
It is estimated that between 25 and 40 million people died
from the the influenza outbreak that began in 1918, swept across America in a week and
around the world in three months. In all, between 500,000 and 700,000 Americans
--civilians and soldiers-- died from the influenza, more than were lost in World War I,
II, and the Korean and Viet Nam wars combined.
Listen to 
The 
On Dec. 19, 2007, the 
