Outsmart Your Genes | The History of Genetics

Below is an expanded version of the timeline of the history of genetics contained in Outsmart Your Genes. If you are interested in learning more about the history of genetics, please click here to join our mailing list and you will be emailed bonus materials to Outsmart Your Genes.

The Past

		Gregor Mendel’s theories of inheritance are published.
		Friedrich Miescher isolates and identifies nuclein (later known as DNA).
		Walther Flemming discovers chromosomes.
		Theodor Boveri and Walter Sutton propose that chromosomes are responsible for heredity.
		Archibald Garrod proposes that some diseases result from changes in "genetic factors," now known as genes.
		Wilhelm Johannsen coins the term "gene."
		Thomas Morgan Hunt shows that genes, which exist on chromosomes, are the basic units of inheritance.
		Han Winkler coins the term "genome" to refer to all the genes in an organism.
		George Beadle and Edward Tatum show that genes control the functions of a cell because each gene codes for a protein.
		Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty provide evidence that DNA, one of the primary components of chromosomes and genes, is the chemical substance responsible for inheritance.
		Erwin Chargaff provides important statistical clues to the structure of DNA.
		Rosalind Franklin produces "Photo 51," which is crucial in helping to decipher the structure of DNA
		James Watson and Francis Crick discover the double helix structure of DNA.
		Marshall Nirenberg cracks the genetic code, which is the code of inheritance.
		A company called Genentech creates a breakthrough treatment for diabetes by genetically engineering bacteria to produce human insulin that can be purified and given to humans as a substitute for their own insulin. This is the first drug made through the use of genetic engineering.
		With blood samples collected from a large family in Venezuela, scientists identify the gene responsible for Huntington’s disease, leading to the first genetic test for a disease.
		Sir Alec John Jeffreys develops DNA profiling (also known as DNA fingerprinting) to be used in forensics, paternity, and immigration cases.
		Richard Buckland becomes the first person acquitted of a crime based on DNA evidence.
		Colin Pitchfork becomes the first murderer identified by DNA evidence after raping and murdering two schoolgirls, the same crime Richard Buckland was acquitted of the previous year.
		Stephen Fodor builds the first specialized DNA "microarray," which would lead to a cost-effective method of testing for hundreds of thousands of genetic variants at once.
		The Human Genome Project is launched.
		Scientists locate the BRCA1 gene, responsible for almost half of all early-onset breast cancer and the majority of breast and ovarian cancers that run in families.
		Researchers at Scotland’s Roslin Institute report cloning a sheep they name Dolly. In that same year a movie called Gattaca (whose name contains only the four chemical letters found in DNA) depicts a future in which genetic information has been fully integrated into, and is utilized by, all segments of society.

The PResent

		The Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics successfully complete an initial draft sequence of the entire human genome.
		The Human Genome Project releases its final sequence of the genetic makeup of the entire human genome.
		The declining cost and increasing power of comprehensive genetic testing allows scientists to test for thousands of genes and their genetic variants all at a single time. This enables Predictive Medicine to become a reality and marks the beginning of medicine’s "pincer movement" against disease.
		Full genome sequencing starts to become commercially viable, and individuals can now have their entire genome sequenced all at once. Full genome sequencing provides all the data required for full genome analysis, which, in turn, can provide information on all known diseases and traits.

The Future

		Gene therapy is approved and used to treat or potentially cure diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and Sickle Cell Anemia. More gene therapy treatments and cures will follow, including those for Parkinson’s Disease, Crohn’s disease, and arthritis.
		Human genetic engineering commences and allows us to change specific genetic variants in a living person, thereby changing disease risk on a genetic level. The next major evolutionary leap of the human species begins.
		Human longevity and wellness are significantly increased. Utilizing genetic information and technology, the average lifespan will be 125 years or longer (and these extra years will be active and full of vitality).

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