Sample Pages.pdf

Gregor Mendel discovers discrete units of inheritance in pea plants.
- 1911: Thomas Hunt Morgan determines genes are carried by chromosomes.
- 1952: Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase demonstrate genes are made of DNA.
- 1953: Francis Crick, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins discover DNA's double-helix structure.
- 1955: Joe Hin Tjio determines human cells have 46 chromosomes.
- 1959: Jérôme Lejeune identifies trisomy 21 as the cause of Down syndrome.
- 1983: Scientists determine Huntington's disease is caused by a mutated gene.
- 1982: Genentech markets human insulin made with recombinant DNA technology.
- 1990: The first gene therapy is performed on four-year-old Ashanti DeSilva.
- 1997: Researchers map the complete DNA sequence of the E. coli bacterium.
- 1999: A gene therapy trial fails, leading to stricter standards for human trials.
- 2001: The FDA approves the cancer drug Gleevec as a precision medicine treatment.
- 2003: The Human Genome Project is completed with 99.99% accuracy.
- 2006: Gene therapy successfully treats advanced melanoma in humans.
- 2007: Gene therapy gives vision to a human patient with Leber's congenital amaurosis.
- 2012: A child is cured of leukemia using genetically engineered T cells.
- 2016: The European community approves a gene therapy for children with adenosine deaminase severe combined immunodeficiency.
- 2017: Researchers cure a teenage boy of sickle cell disease using gene therapy.
A significant medical breakthrough is the development of imatinib (Gleevec), which targets the malfunctioning BCR-ABL gene causing chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a type of blood cancer, and has saved thousands of lives.