Maryland BioHistory

Learn about the scientists behind the discoveries, entrepreneurs,
political leaders, and significant events, people and institutions that are the foundation
of the biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceutical and life science industries
in the state of Maryland.

Tell us about Maryland's BioHistory. If you are aware of a notable event, person,
organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail: BioHistory@InfoResource.org

1848 -- American Association for the Advancement of Science 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.

1856 -- Maryland Agricultural College (University of Maryland) chartered.

The Maryland Agricultural College (University of Maryland) was chartered March 6, 1856 and in 1858, landowner Charles Benedict Calvert issued stock certificates to help launch the Maryland Agricultural College, forerunner of the University of Maryland (UM), on 420 acres of Calvert's Riverdale plantation. Financial difficulties associated with the Civil War resulted in the college being bankrupt from 1864-66 and the college temporarily became a preparatory school. In February 1866, the Legislature appropriated money for half ownership and the college becomes, in part, a state institution. In 1887, the Hatch Act created federally funded agricultural experiment stations and the the college farm and Rossborough Inn were donated for the experiment station. (Photo: Charles Benedict Calvert)

From humble beginnings, the University of Maryland at College Park is today a public research university, the flagship campus of the University System of Maryland -- the state's original 1862 land-grant institution, and serves the State's agricultural needs through the Maryland Cooperative Extension and the Agricultural Experiment Station. Additionally, UM supports the development of the state's biotechnlogy industry through the Centers for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and Biomolecular Structure and Organization; Microscopy and Microanalysis Center; the Sloan Biotechnology Industry Center; and the Maryland Biotechnology Institute.

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.

From 1831-1836, Darwin served as a naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle -- a British science expedition around the world. In South America Darwin discovered fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species, and on the Galapagos Islands, located west of Equador, he noticed many variations of plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. Throughout the expedition Darwin studied plants and animals and collected specimens for further study.

Upon his return to London, Darwin conducted thorough research of his notes and specimens, and out of his study grew several related theories: evolution did occur; evolutionary change was gradual, requiring thousands to millions of years; the primary mechanism for evolution was a process called natural selection; and the millions of species alive today arose from a single original life form through a branching process called "specialization."

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.

Suggested Reading:

1865 -- Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, presents his laws of heredity.

1876 -- Johns Hopkins University founded.

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) founded February 22, 1876 and modeled after European research institutions where research and the advancement of knowledge were integrally linked to teaching, was the first research university in the United States. The university's emphasis on both learning and research revolutionized U.S. higher education. The University's president was Daniel Gilman, formerly the president of the University of California in Berkeley and his plan for JHU was to create the greatest medical school in the U.S. comparable to any in Europe, home to the world's leading medical institutions. (Photo: Johns Hopkins)

The University was named for Johns Hopkins who was born in 1795 at Whitehall, his family's tobacco plantation, in Anne Arundel County, MD. Hopkins' early education was interrupted when his Quaker parents freed their slaves and sent their two oldest sons to work the family's fields. Importantly, Hopkins survived an attack of cholera and witnessed the effects of epidemics of smallpox and yellow fever that struck Baltimore. Hopkins left home at 17 for Baltimore and a job in business with an uncle, and soon thereafter established his own mercantile business at the age of 24. (Photo: Daniel Gilman)

Hopkins was an astute businessman who, with three of his brothers, formed the wholesale provision house, Hopkins Brothers. The firm shipped goods using conestoga wagons to North Carolina and Virginia in exchange for whiskey, which they sold in Baltimore under the brand Hopkins' Best. Johns Hopkins invested wisely in a variety of ventures, including the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad in which he became a Director in 1847, and Chairman of the Finance Committee in 1855. Hopkins was also President of Merchants' Bank and director of others. In 1867, he incorporated Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital, and after his death on December 24, 1873 his fortune of seven million dollars was divided equally between the two institutions that bear his name -- the largest philanthropic bequest in U.S. history.

Philanthropic giving founded JHU, and that continues today with the philanthropy of Michael Bloomberg, a trustee who has donated $100 million to the Johns Hopkins Initiative which benefitted all the university's schools, and Sidney Kimmel, founder and chairman of Jones Apparel Group, who in 2001 donated $150 million for cancer research and patient care. Today, Johns Hopkins is a leader in both teaching and research, and has won more federal research and development funding than any other university -- $1.2 billion (FY 2004) -- due largely to the work of the Applied Physics Laboratory, a division of the university devoted entirely to research and development. Additionally, the School of Medicine is the largest recipient of National Institutes of Health research grants to medical schools, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the first of its kind in this country, ranks first among public health schools in federal research support. (Photo: Johns Hopkins Hospital)

1887 -- Marine Hospital Service Hygienic Laboratory (National Institutes of Health) 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.

The Biologics Control Act enacted 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). (Photo: courtesy of the NIH Almanac)

In 1912 MHS was reorganized, renamed the Public Health Service (PHS) and 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. 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. 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.

During World War II, the NIH focused almost entirely on war-related problems. At the close of the war, PHS leaders guided through Congress the 1944 Public Health Service Act, which defined the shape of medical research in the post-war world. Two provisions were especially important: 1) In 1946 the NCI grants program was expanded to the entire NIH, and the program grew from just over $4 million in 1947, to more than $100 million in 1957, and to $1 billion in 1974. 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. Accompanying growth in the grants program was the proliferation of new categorical institutes, and from 1946-1949, voluntary health organizations moved Congress to create institutes for research on mental health, dental diseases, and heart disease. In 1948, language in the National Heart Act made the name of the umbrella organization the National Institutes of Health. 2) 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. (Photo: National Archives and Records Administration photograph, courtesy of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York)

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.

1893 -- Army Medical School (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research) founded.

The Army Medical School (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research), located at Silver Spring, MD, was founded in 1893 by U.S. Army Surgeon General George Sternberg as the Army Medical School and is widely recognized as the oldest school of public health and preventive medicine in the United States. Physicians were trained in the art and science of military medicine, focusing primarily on the prevention of disease. (Photo: Surgeon General George Sternberg)

The Institute named for Major Walter Reed - physician, researcher, soldier - remains the model of the military medical scientist. Reed, born in Virginia in 1851, was the youngest graduate ever of the University of Virginia Medical School. Reed began his Army medical career serving at frontier outposts in the Arizona Territory, and later applied his knowledge of camp life, sanitation, and medicine to a prevalent problem in Army camps, typhoid fever. Reed proved that it was caused by the typhoid bacillus and explained its route of transmission. In 1900, he was named president of a board investigating yellow fever in Cuba, the disease that killed more soldiers than the enemy during the Spanish-American War and continued to devastate troops stationed in Cuba. Reed and his team proved that the disease was spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito only and was caused by a filterable virus. (Photo: Walter Reed)

During the early 20th century, the many diseases confronting soldiers expanded as the U.S. presence in the world grew. Between the World Wars, investigations into dengue, malaria, combat stress, wound treatment, chemical weapons, and military dentistry continued, and as a result, the U.S. military was prepared to meet many of the new challenges it faced in World War II and after. (Photo: World War I, Chemical Weapons Used on Large Scale)

Since the end of World War II, the Institute has continued to evolve and serve America's Armed Forces. After a series of name changes, it became the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) in 1953. Among the new military health threats in the post-World War II era addressed at WRAIR were nuclear weapons and an increased risk of chemical or biological warfare.

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.

Latest Findings: In September 2004, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a five-year, $12.5 million grant to five institutions that will collaborate to study genes constructed from 1918 flu-virus particles salvaged from the bodies of World War I soldiers and the exhumed Brevig Mission, Alaska resident. The Institutions include the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York; Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the University of Washington. The ultimate goal is to use knowledge gained from the study to develop vaccines, influenza medications and diagnostic tests to prevent a similar influenza outbreak.

Suggested Reading:

1933 -- Thomas Hunt Morgan awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his chromosome theory of heredity.

1934 -- George Hoyt Whipple awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.

1944 -- Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Spencer Gasser awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1947 -- Transistor 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. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

1953 -- Double helix structure of DNA 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.

Rosalind Franklin, whose work contributed to the discovery, died before this date and the rules do not allow a Nobel Prize to be awarded posthumously. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

Suggested Reading:

1953 -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute founded.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) (and the Hughes Aircraft Company) were incorporated in Delaware December 17, 1953, and named for its sole trustee -- the brash and brilliant son of Texas entrepreneur Howard R. Hughes, Sr. who had patented a roller cutter bit that significantly improved the drilling process for oil drilling rigs. Howard Hughes, Jr. subsequently parlayed his inheritance in the Hughes Tool Company into a billion dollar fortune. All 75,000 shares of the Hughes Aircraft Company stock are owned by HHMI, and a portion of the company's profits are used for medical research. The primary objective of HHMI is the promotion of human knowledge within the field of the basic sciences (principally the field of medical research and medical education) and the effective application thereof for the benefit of mankind."

By 1984, HHMI investigations focused on four scientific areas: cell biology, genetics, immunology, and neuroscience, with structural biology added in 1985. Today, HHMI as an operating medical research organization employs about 300 investigators, all of whom work in Institute laboratories while also serving as faculty members at the host institutions with which HHMI has entered into long-term collaborations. The scientists are supported by approximately 2,500 research associates, technicians, and other personnel employed by the Institute. HHMI also is one of the world's largest philanthropies with an endowment of approximately $15 billion, and has laboratories across the U.S. and grants programs throughout the world. Its headquarters and conference center are located in Chevy Chase, MD.

1958 -- Integrated circuit invented.

1958 -- Space Projects Center (Goddard Space Flight Center) founded. In August 1958, Senator J. Glenn Beall announced that the federal government would establish a Space Projects Center (Goddard Space Flight Center) in Greenbelt, Maryland. The chosen site was part of the Department of Agriculture’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. Months later, with the passage of the National Aeronautics and Space Act, the Naval Research Laboratory’s Project Vanguard was legally transferred to the Space Projects Center, though it remained at the Naval Research Laboratory facilities until the completion of the new center. In May 1959, NASA formally named the new facility "Goddard Space Flight Center", after Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard considered the father of modern rocketry. On the 35th anniversary of Goddard’s first liquid-propellant rocket launch (March 16, 1961), Goddard Space Flight Center was officially dedicated. (Photo: Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard, courtesy of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration)

The Goddard facility at Greenbelt covers 1,270 acres and maintains the adjacent Magnetic Test Facility and Propulsion Research site. The outlying sites include the Antenna Performance Measuring range and the Optical Tracking and Ground Plane Facilities. The unique Magnetic Test Facility is a magnetic-quiet area and is operated from a single control building. Other unique facilities at Goddard include the Flight Dynamics Facility, and a high capacity centrifuge (capable of rotating 5,000 lb payloads at up to 30 rpm). In 1990, the Space Systems Development and Integration Facility opened, including an enormous “cleanroom” for the testing of spacecraft hardware. Today, Goddard remains a major player in developing and operating unmanned scientific craft.

1961 -- President John F. Kennedy expands U.S. Space Program

1962 -- "Silent Spring" published by Rachel Carson.

1966 -- Peyton Rous awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.

1967 -- Haldan Keffer Hartline awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.

1969 -- Man walks on the moon.

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 publishes "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 founded.

Nasdaq, founded February 8, 1971, is now the largest U.S. electronic stock market. With approximately 3,300 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. NASDAQ is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media, biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical.

Suggested Reading:

1973 -- Recombinant DNA perfected.

1974 -- Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

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 providing an important source of financial investment for the stock market. (Photos: Jacob Javits and Pete Williams courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office).

1975 -- Monoclonal antibodies produced.

In 1975, Georges Köhler and César Milstein, showed how monoclonal antibodies can be generated by isolating individual fused myeloma cells.

The 1984 Nobel Laureate in Medicine was awarded jointly to: Niels Jerne, Georges Köhler and César Milstein for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

1976 -- Genentech, founder of the biotechnology industry, established.

In 1976, 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. Excited by the breakthrough, Swanson called Boyer who agreed to give the young entrepreneur 10 minutes of his time. Swanson's enthusiasm for the technology resulted in a three hour meeting and at its conclusion, Genentech was born.

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. The event was one of the largest stock run-ups ever, and that event set the stage for future biotechnolgy industry offerings.

Genentech was initially broadly focused in three areas including food processing, industrial chemicals, and human health care. In 1982, Eli Lilly & Co. which had acquired worldwide rights to Genenetch's recombinant human insulin (1978) received FDA approval to market the product -- the first biotechnology therapeutic to reach the marketplace.

Beginning in 1983, Genentech became solely focused on human therapeutics and diagnostics, and in 1985, Genentech received approval from FDA to market its first product, Protropin® (somatrem for injection) growth hormone for children with growth hormone deficiency — the first recombinant pharmaceutical product to be manufactured and marketed by a biotechnology company. In 1990, Genentech and Roche Holding Ltd. of Basel, Switzerland completed a $2.1 billion merger. Today, Genentech is among the world's leading biotech companies with multiple protein-based products on the market for serious or life-threatening medical conditions.

1977 -- First human gene 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. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

1977 -- Robert Austrian's pneumococcus vaccine introduced.

Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, is a bacterium responsible for several human diseases which can sometimes be fatal, including pneumonia and meningitis. Early vaccines against pneumococcal pneumonia, introduced in the late 1940s, were largely abandoned by the medical community due to the simultaneous development of effective antibiotics, such as penicillin, for treatment.

Dr. Robert Austrian, a Massachusetts native and graduate of Johns Hopkins University (A.B. 1937, M.D. 1941), was not convinced that antibiotics would end the threat of pneumococcus to human health. He began conducting studies designed to convince the medical community that prevention through vaccination was also important to reducing the liklihood of mortality from pneumococcal infection. In a study of 529 pneumonia patients at Kings County Hospital in New York, Dr. Austrian found a mortality rate of 15% persisted despite the use of antibiotic therapy, and the mortality rate was over one-third for patients over 50. These findings surprised a medical establishment that believed antibiotics were a cure-all for bacterial infections.

Dr. Austrian then analyzed the 83 known types of pneumococci and found that 14 were responsible for 80% of the invasive pneumococcal infections in man. He developed a polysaccharide vaccine based on the earlier pneumococcus vaccine technology and included the unique outer capsules of the 14 most common lethal strains. He conducted trials on military traineers and gold miners in South Africa, and found the vaccine to be safe and effective. The vaccine was licensed in 1977, and then expanded in 1983 to protect against 23 common strains.

Recently, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pneumococcus again highlights the importance of Dr. Robert Austrian's work and the necessity of using vaccines in the practice of medicine.

1978 -- Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1980 -- U.S. Supreme Court ruled man-made organism patentable.

1980 -- Bayh-Dole Act provides for university technology transfer.

1983 -- Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine founded.

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving military medicine and public health. The HJF was founded in 1983 and named in honor of Henry "Scoop" Jackson, who sponsored the original legislation. Senator Jackson from the state of Washington had a long-standing commitment to military medicine and health.

HJF has helped establish several large military research and clinical programs with the University and military medical centers, including the Center for Prostate Disease Research, the Clinical Breast Care Program and the Center for Deployment Health Care. HJF provides a broad range of services for these programs, including laboratory and clinic renovations, project management, information technology services and graphics and communications. Today, the HJF manages manages more than 60 endowments and 800 education funds that support military medical education and training, and more than 650 research grants and contracts. Notably, the HJF is ranked in the top 10 percent of all institutions receiving NIH research grants. (Photo: Henry M. Jackson courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office)

1990 -- Human Genome Project 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 project, originally planned to last 15 years, was expected to be completed by 2003 due to rapid technological advances.

1991 -- Maryland Bioprocessing Center founded.

Maryland Bioprocessing Center, Inc., founded in 1991, is a non-profit organization (now MdBio) created as part of an initiative to enhance Maryland’s burgeoning bioscience industry and infrastructure through the construction of a state-of-the-art multi-tenant biomanufacturing facility.

The BioCenter, a 54,000 square foot GMP facility owned by Maryland Bioprocessing Center, was completed in 1996 on land leased from the City of Baltimore near the Johns Hopkins Bayview Research Campus. Shortly after completing construction, the non-profit negotiated a long-term lease with Bio Science Contract Production Corp (BSCP), a contract biomanufacturing company. In 2000, BSCP was sold to Cambrex Corporation, which assumed the lease on the facility. With revenue from the lease payments, the BioCenter used its financial resources to support and promote the commercial development of bioscience in Maryland. MdBio assumed its current name in July 1997 to better reflect the organization’s focus on developing industry support programs intended to advance the growth of bioscience in Maryland. Since that time, MdBio has been instrumental in the continued growth of Maryland’s bioscience industry, providing companies with financial support, business development consulting services, cost-sharing and group purchasing opportunities, as well as education and workforce development programs.

1992 -- Institute for Genomic Research (J. Craig Venter Institute) founded.

Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) is a not-for-profit center dedicated to deciphering and analyzing genomes. Since it founding by Craig Venter in 1992, TIGR has been at the forefront of the genomics revolution, deepening the understanding of life and producing results with wide-ranging applications in medicine, agriculture, energy, the environment and biodefense. In 1995, TIGR helped launch the genome era with its landmark publication of the first full DNA sequence of a free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae.

TIGR's 17-acre campus is located in the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center in Rockville, MD, in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and close to the National Institutes of Health. Among TIGR’s neighbors are satellite campuses of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, as well as other research institutes and biotechnology companies located within Maryland's biotechnology corridor.

In October 2006, J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), The Institute of Genomic Research (TIGR) and the J. Craig Venter Science Foundation (JCVSF) merged into one organization, the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). The consolidated JCVI, with six buildings (more than 250,000 square feet of lab space) and combined assets of more than $200 million, is now one of the largest independent research institutes in the United States. JCVI's total employment exceeds 500, nearly 400 of whom are dedicated to research and the new organization includes one Nobel Laureate and three members of the National Academy of Sciences. (Photo: J. Craig Venter, courtesy Institute for Genomic Research)

1993 -- Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) 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 awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1994 -- Martin Rodbell awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

2000 -- Paul Greengard awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

2001 -- Human Genome Project draft sequence published.

2001 -- Johns Hopkins University renames Public Health School for Michael Bloomberg.

Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, founded in 1916 by William H. Welch and John D. Rockefeller, was renamed Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in honor of alumnus and media entrepreneur Michael R. Bloomberg, recognizing his unprecedented commitment of energy and financial support to the school and the entire university. Bloomberg, a trustee since 1987, has donated $100 million to the Johns Hopkins Initiative which benefitted all the university's schools.

The School of Public Health works around the world addressing such problems as AIDS and other infectious diseases, child malnutrition and maternal health, the causes and prevention of chronic diseases like cancer, and the organization and financing of health care. (Photo: Michael Bloomberg)

2001 -- Sidney Kimmel donates $150 Million to Johns Hopkins University for Cancer Research.

Sidney Kimmel, founder and chairman of Jones Apparel Group, donated $150 million for cancer research and patient care - the largest single gift ever to the Johns Hopkins University. The Hopkins Cancer Center officially will be called The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins has internationally recognized programs in the molecular genetics of cancer, bone marrow transplantation, new drug and vaccine development, pediatric oncology, radiation oncology, and brain tumor treatment and research.

The Cancer Center is highly regarded for its innovative surgical treatments for head and neck cancers, sarcoma, prostate and pancreatic cancers and its research involving the genetic basis of colon cancer, the treatment of cancer pain, gene therapy, and new therapeutic approaches for breast cancer. (Photo: Sidney Kimmel)

2003 -- Peter Agre awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

2004 -- Richard Axel awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.

2006 -- Andrew Fire awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Other Resources

Other State & Province BioHistories

Other Life Science History Resources

Tell us about Maryland's BioHistory. If you are aware of a notable event, person,
organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail: BioHistory@InfoResource.org