1 | Name: | Dr. Stanley N. Cohen | |
Institution: | Stanford University | ||
Year Elected: | 2006 | ||
Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
Subdivision: | 207. Genetics | ||
Residency: | Resident | ||
Living? : | Living | ||
Birth Date: | 1935 | ||
In the early 1970s, Stanley N. Cohen and Herbert W. Boyer discovered a multi-step methodology for isolating individual genes by cloning them in live cells, and showed that genetic material can be propagated and expressed in biological species other than its natural host. They thus invented DNA cloning, also known as "recombinant DNA" or "genetic engineering", a singularly important advance that forms the foundation for much of contemporary biological research, has revolutionized biotechnology, and has led directly to the extraordinary progress currently being made in the field of medicine. In 1978, Dr. Cohen achieved the first production of a biologically active eukaryotic protein encoded by DNA transferred into bacteria from mammalian cells, yet another crucial contribution that underlies modern biomedical research. Cohen's laboratory continues to be a major leader both in microbiological studies (which his early work has literally transformed) and in studies of growth control and chromosome dynamics in mammalian cells. Since 1993 he has been Kwoh-Ting Li Professor of Genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, on whose faculty he has served since 1968. Dr. Cohen has won the Mattia Award (1977) and the National Medal of Science (1988) as well as election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1978), the National Academy of Sciences (1979) and the Institute of Medicine (1988). He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1960. |