The following includes select facts from life science history, both global and Tennessee 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 Tennessee.
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
1794 -- Blout College (Univesity of Tennessee) was founded.
The University of Tennessee was founded in 1794
in Knoxville as Blout College. The school was chartered by the Southwest Territorial Legislature
two years before Tennessee became a state.
Today, this public land-grant university enrolls over 26,000 students and offers over 300
programs of study in 11 colleges. The university is also the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee
System with additional campuses in Memphis, Martin, and Chattanooga. The university is home to a
forensic anthropology facility, the University of Tennessee Medical Center, and the College
of Medicine.
The university co-manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Department of Energy's largest
science and energy lab, with the Battelle Memorial Institute.
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.
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).
1873 -- Vanderbilt University was founded.
Vanderbilt University was founded in 1873
in Nashville with a $1 million gift from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a shipping and rail magnate from
New York.
Today this private research university enrolls over 11,000 students in 10 schools. The university
is home to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the only Level I Trauma Center in Middle
Tennessee.
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 -- 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.
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 27, 1918, local newspapers reported that there were at least a handful of cases within Nashville,
but that authorities could not be certain since influenza was not a mandatory reportable disease in either Nashville
or Tennessee. By October 5, Nashville Health Officer Dr. W. E. Hibbett estimated that there were between
10,000 and 15,000 influenza cases in the city. On November 1, Captain Dr. Robert C. Derivaux, the local
representative of the U.S. Public Health Service, filed a comprehensive report on Nashville’s epidemic with
USPHS officials in Washington. According to him, Nashville experienced 40,000 influenza cases and 392 deaths during the epidemic, with an
additional 10,000 cases and 267 deaths occurring at the Old Hickory powder plant. In Nashville, the first case
appeared on September 16, with influenza becoming epidemic ten days later. It peaked between October 4 and
October 7, and ended about October 20. By the end of February 1919, physicians reported that a total 875 epidemic-related
deaths had occurred since September. The result was an excess death rate of 610 per 100,000, slightly higher than
that of Birmingham (592) and significantly higher than of Louisville (406). In fact, Nashville’s epidemic was one of
the most severe in the country.
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.
1943 -- Oak Ridge National Laboratory was founded.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), founded in
1943 as a part of the secret Manhattan Project to pioneer a method for producing and separating plutonium, is the Department of
Energy’s largest science and energy laboratory. Managed since April 2000 by a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle.
During the 1950s and 1960s and with the creation of DOE in the 1970s, ORNL became an international center for the study of
nuclear energy and related research in the physical and life sciences. By the turn of the century the laboratory supported the
nation with a peacetime science and technology mission that was just as important as, but very different from, the days of the
Manhattan Project.
Today, ORNL has a staff of more than 4,200 and annually hosts approximately 3,000 guest researchers who spend two weeks or longer
in Oak Ridge. ORNL funding exceeds $1 billion. ORNL is in the final stages of a $350 million project to provide a modern campus for
the next generation of great science. A unique combination of federal, state, and private funds is supporting the construction of
13 new facilities. Included in these new facilities are the Laboratory for Comparative and Functional Genomics,
the Nanoscience Center, the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, the Office of Science’s Leadership Computing
Facility for unclassified high-performance computing, and the state-funded joint institutes for computational
sciences, biological sciences, and neutron sciences.
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.
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.
1953 -- University of Tennessee Medical Center was founded.
University of Tennessee Medical Center was founded in
1953 with Governor Frank Clement leading the groundbreaking ceremonies for the new research center/hospital.
The University of Tennessee Memorial Hospital opened its doors in 1956 with the first patients transported to the new
facility from Knoxville General.
Today, the UT Medical Center is a major medical center that provides superior treatments and healthcare support to residents of
the East Tennessee region as well as offering expert care as the area’s only Level I Trauma Center. The hospital is a tertiary
facility, offering general, specialty and sub-specialty care in a full range of medical fields, including specialties with heart,
lung, vascular, brain, spine, childbirth and cancer as well as many other conditions.
1958 -- Integrated circuit was invented.
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)
1962 -- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was founded.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, located in Memphis and founded in 1962
by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, is one of the world's premier centers for research and treatment of catastrophic diseases in
children, primarily pediatric cancers.
The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic
diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our Founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based
on race, religion or a family's ability to pay. Research efforts are directed at understanding the molecular, genetic and chemical
bases of catastrophic diseases in children, identifying cures for such diseases and promoting their prevention. Research is
focused specifically on cancers, acquired and inherited immunodeficiencies, infectious diseases and genetic disorders. Current basic
and clinical research at St. Jude includes work in gene therapy, bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy, the biochemistry of normal
and cancerous cells, radiation treatment, blood diseases, resistance to therapy, viruses, hereditary diseases, influenza,
pediatric AIDS and psychological effects of catastrophic diseases.
In 2002, another dream of Danny Thomas became a reality when the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon was established in Beirut.
The center is an affiliate of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and works in association with the American University of Beirut
Medical Center.
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.
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.
1971 -- Earl Sutherland, Jr. was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Sutherland was raised in Kansas attended received his bachelor's degree in 1937 from Washburn College, a school located in
Topeka, Kansas, and was subsequently accepted to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, where
he worked with Carl Ferdinand Cori. In 1942, Sutherland graduated with a Doctor of Medicine. In 1963, Sutherland became
professor of physiology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Cori’s laboratory had previously established the basic mechanism of glycogen metabolism, for which they were
awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Sutherland helped to identify the importance of liver phosphorylase
in the process of glycogenolysis. Of the three basic enzymes involved in glycogenolysis, Sutherland found that LP
was rate-limiting, meaning that the progression of glycogen metabolism is dependent on this enzyme. LP would become
the subject of Sutherland’s research, and it was through experimentation on LP and hormone interaction that
Sutherland’s most renowned discovery was made.
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.
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 -- 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.
1986 -- Center for Environmental Biotechnology was founded.
Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB), at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, was established in 1986 to foster a multidisciplinary approach for training the next generation of environmental scientists
and solving environmental problems through biotechnology. The CEB was first in the nation to create a graduate
research training program that truly integrates the sciences and engineering disciplines needed to produce trained professionals in the
field. This was accomplished through grass root efforts of UT and ORNL faculty and staff with conceptual support by department heads and
administrators at UT.
The CEB has achieved Research Center-of-Excellence status by the University of Tennessee in order to catalyze and advance a new
research agenda that "pushes-the-envelope" of creative and pioneering research. This fundamental new research revolutionizes the
ability to dissect, monitor and control processes at the molecular level to achieve real-time information and computational analysis in
complex bio-environmental systems.
Today, the CEB is composed of nearly 40 faculty, adjunct faculty, and research assistant professors across 10 departments that conduct
research in areas ranging from BioMicroElectronics and BioEnvironmental Systems to BioTechnical Systems, BioAnalytical Systems, and
Education & Outreach.
1986 -- Stanley Cohen was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
After Rita Levi Montalcini discovered a substance that promotes growth of the nervous system, in the mid-1950s
Cohen discovered another growth factor that promotes growth of cells in the skin and cornea. The discovery of
what are now known as growth factors has provided a deeper understanding of medical problems like deformities,
senile dementia, delayed wound healing, and tumor diseases.
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.
1993 -- Vanderbilt Cancer Center was established.
In 1993, the Vanderbilt Cancer Center was established under the
leadership of Dr. Hal Moses, to bring together all cancer-related research, treatment, education and outreach at
Vanderbilt. The Centers creation was also made possible through the important support of the T.J. Martell Foundation,
which established its Nashville division and the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at Vanderbilt that same year.
in 1999, Nashville's Ingram family made a transformational gift in honor of the late E. Bronson Ingram, philanthropist,
businessman and civic leader. Formally named the E. Bronson Ingram Cancer Center at Vanderbilt University, the center
quickly became known as the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. In 2001, the Center earned the NCI's highest distinction
as a Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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.
1996 -- Peter Doherty was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
By studying mice, Peter Doherty and Rolf Zinkernagel proved in 1973 how the immune system recognizes
virus-ridden cells. A kind of white blood cell, T-cells, kills the virus-ridden cells, but only if they recognize
both the foreign substances, viruses, and certain substances from the body's own cells. The discovery has provided
an important basis for vaccines and medicines for infectious diseases, but also for inflammatory diseases and cancer.
1999 -- Tennessee Biotechnology Association was founded.
Tennessee Biotechnology Association, now Life Science Tennessee,
founded in 1999, is a statewide, non-profit, member organization whose mission is to advance and grow the life science
industry in Tennessee through advocacy, partnerships and alignment with economic and workforce development.
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.
2001 -- Memphis Bioworks Foundation was founded.
Memphis Bioworks Foundation, founded in 2001 as a nonprofit
organization, leads an unprecedented collaboration of public, private, academic, and government organizations aligned behind
a common goal. The mission of Memphis Bioworks is to build upon the bioscience industry already thriving in the Memphis economy
and to establish the area as an internationally recognized center for the development and commercialization of biomedical technology.
UT-Baptist Research Park, established by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, began with the Baptist Memorial Health Care donation of 1.3 million
square feet of prime urban property in the Medical Center district. The campus will develop over a 10-year period into a six-building
research, incubator, and commercial center dedicated to the bioscience industry. Another distinguishing feature is that, with support
from the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, the National Institute of Health awarded the University of Tennessee Health Science Center a $18
million construction grant to build a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory - one of only six in the country.
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 Tennessee Life Science History, please e-mail us
at: suggestions@inforesource.org.