Nobel Laureate Scientist. He shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980 with fellow scientists Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger for their contributions to basic research involving nucleic acids. After graduating from Pennsylvania State College (later renamed Pennsylvania State University) in 1948 and earning a doctorate from Western Reserve University in 1952, he pursued further studies at the Institute of Cytophysiology in Copenhagen and at Washington University in St. Louis, where he remained as assistant professor of microbiology until 1959. In 1959, he joined the medical school of Stanford University, serving as chairman of the biochemistry department from 1969 to 1974 and becoming Willson professor (1970) and director of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine (1985). He retired from the university in 2000. During his research of the actions of isolated genes, he developed methods for splitting DNA molecules at selected sites and attaching segments of the molecule to the DNA of a virus or plasmid, which could then enter bacterial or animal cells. The foreign DNA was incorporated into the host and caused the synthesis of proteins that were not ordinarily found there. One of the results of this research was the development of a strain of bacteria containing the gene for producing the mammalian hormone insulin. In 1980, he, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger, earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their career work in this area. He also earned numerous other awards and honors for his work.
Nobel Laureate Scientist. He shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980 with fellow scientists Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger for their contributions to basic research involving nucleic acids. After graduating from Pennsylvania State College (later renamed Pennsylvania State University) in 1948 and earning a doctorate from Western Reserve University in 1952, he pursued further studies at the Institute of Cytophysiology in Copenhagen and at Washington University in St. Louis, where he remained as assistant professor of microbiology until 1959. In 1959, he joined the medical school of Stanford University, serving as chairman of the biochemistry department from 1969 to 1974 and becoming Willson professor (1970) and director of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine (1985). He retired from the university in 2000. During his research of the actions of isolated genes, he developed methods for splitting DNA molecules at selected sites and attaching segments of the molecule to the DNA of a virus or plasmid, which could then enter bacterial or animal cells. The foreign DNA was incorporated into the host and caused the synthesis of proteins that were not ordinarily found there. One of the results of this research was the development of a strain of bacteria containing the gene for producing the mammalian hormone insulin. In 1980, he, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger, earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their career work in this area. He also earned numerous other awards and honors for his work.
Bio by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye
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