History 138 - Class 44

History 138: Science in the U.S.

Class 44 (12/4)
Biomedicine and biotech

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Outline

Biomedicine and biotechnology: nature as a resource

Development over the 20th century
The pre-WWII pharmaceutical research complex
Postwar expansion
Steady growth
The hope for a cure

Molecular biology
Molecular genetics
Genetic engineering
    Manipulating DNA
    Concerns
    Biotech as industry
    And the genome

Names and Terms

Primary	Secondary
insulin (discovered 1921) vitamins, hormones, sulfa drugs / sulfanilamides (interwar) polio vaccines (1950s) National Institutes of Health (NIH) War on Cancer DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) recombinant DNA (rDNA) Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980) Bayh-Dole Act (1980) Human Genome Project	nude mice, transgenic mice diabetes Eli Lilly Co. Cetus, Genentech gene therapy, genetic screening, genetically modified food

Assignment

Paul Berg et al., "Potential Biohazards of Recombinant DNA Molecules," Science 185 (1974): 303.

What course of action were the authors proposing?
To whom did they address their argument? What mechanism did they want to see operating to bring about their desired outcome?
What alternative courses of action might they have been trying to ward off?
Who were the authors, and what were the sources of their authority?