Missouri 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 Missouri.

Tell us about Missouri'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

1839 -- University of Missouri founded.

The University of Missouri was founded in 1839 after the Missouri legislature passed the Geyer Act, legislation that provided funds to establish a state land-grant university. Columbia was chosen as the location for the new university after residents of Boone County pledged to donate $117,921 in cash and land. With its founding, the University of Missouri (also know as Mizzou) became the first university in Missouri, the first west of the Mississippi, and the first in Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase.

Today the University of Missouri in Columbia is the largest university and research institution in Missouri, enrolling over 28,000 students and housing over 20 schools and colleges. The University is well-known for its strong programs in agriculture, life sciences, and veterinary medicine and is one of only six public universities in the nation with medicine, veterinary medicine, law, engineering, and agriculture schools all on one campus.

The University of Missouri is also the flagship campus of the University of Missouri System, with other campuses located in Rolla, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

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.

1853 -- Eliot Seminary (Washington University in St. Louis) founded.

Washington University in St. Louis was founded in 1853 as Eliot Seminary by Wayman Crow and minister William Greenleaf Eliot, grandfather of poet T.S. Eliot. It functioned solely as a evening school until 1956. After admitting full-time students, the school's name changed to Washington University.

Today the university is a private, nonsectarian research university enrolling over 6,000 students in 7 graduate and undergraduate schools, including a Medical School.

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.

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

1865 -- George Washington Carver, Jr. born.

George Washington Carver, former slave, educator, scientist, business leader, and renown agriculturist, was born around 1865 in Missouri. Carver received a B.S. from the Iowa Agricultural College in 1894 and a M.S. in 1896. He became a member of the faculty of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in charge of the school's bacterial laboratory work in the Systematic Botany department.

Carver developed 118 products, including a rubber substitute and over 500 dyes and pigments, from 28 different plants. In 1927, Carver invented a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans, and was issued three separate patents for his work. Some of the synthetic products developed by Carver include:

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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.

1905 -- St. Louis Skin and Cancer Hospital founded.

In 1905, the St. Louis Skin and Cancer Hospital, now known as the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center was founded to provide free cancer care to the poor. In 1908, George D. Barnard, a wealthy St. Louis businessman, donated $130,000 for a new building which was constructed and opened in 1910 as the Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital. In 1915, Barnard died and donated the hospital much of his $2 million estate, and in 1932, his widow died and left $1 million in trust for the hospital.

In 1923, the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR), located at Washington University School of Medicine, was established with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the family of Edward Mallinckrodt Sr. The Hospital expanded in subsequent decades and accomplished several notable achievements, including:

• Construction of first cyclotron in 1941 devoted to medical and biological research established through a Rockefeller Foundation grant;
• In 1946, the first carbon-14 isotopes were released by the U.S. War Department for research to Barnard and MIR, where they are used in cancer studies;
• The Cancer Research Building at Washington University School of Medicine was completed in 1950;
• In 1952, Barnard officially affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine, and shifted from an independently organized free cancer hospital to a university-affiliated, research-oriented teaching hospital;

In 1999, the center was renamed the Alvin J.Siteman Cancer Center in recognition of a $35 million dollar gift, by Alvin and Ruth Siteman, a St. Louis businessman, trustee of Washington University and board member of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Siteman, president of the Siteman Organization, previously was chairman of Mark Twain Bancshares Inc., which merged with Mercantile Bancorporation in 1997. Today, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center is an international leader in cancer treatment, research, prevention, education and community outreach. It is the only cancer center in Missouri and within a 240-mile radius of St. Louis to hold the prestigious Comprehensive Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute.

1901 -- Monsanto Company founded.

Monsanto Company was founded in 1901 by John F. Queeny and named after his wife Olga Monsanto Queeny. The company's first product was saccharine. In the 20th century, the company became a producer and marketer of agricultural chemicals including 2,4D (1945), Ramrod herbicide (1964) which began the use of Western theme names for the original Monsanto's brands of herbicides, and Roundup herbicide (1981).

In 1987, Monsanto conducted the first U.S. field trials of plants with biotechnology traits, and in 1994 the company's first biotechnology product to win regulatory approval, Posilac, bovine somatotropin (Bst) for dairy cows, went on sale in the U.S. In 1997, the company introduced Roundup Ready Cotton and Canola, and YieldGard Corn Borer insect-protected corn providing farmers with in-seed insect-protection against the European corn borer. In 2000, Monsanto entered into a merger with Pharmacia, and in 2002 the Monsanto Company was spun off from Pharmacia and now operates as a separate company (Pharmacia became a subsidiary of Pfizer in 2003).

Today, Monsanto is a leading provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. The company uses plant breeding, plant biotechnology and other applications of modern science to support its commitment to agriculture and the farmers that feed, clothe and fuel our growing world.

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.

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1927 -- Danforth Foundation established.

The Danforth Foundation is is a private, independent foundation established in 1927 by William H. Danforth founder of the Ralston-Purina Company one of the world's largest producer of dry dog and dry and soft-moist cat foods and a leading producer of cat box filler in the U.S. and Canada. At one time, the Company was one of the 100 largest corporations in America.

The goal of the Danforth Foundation is to help revitalize the St. Louis region, making it one of the top metropolitan areas in America. As of 1997, the Danforth Foundation exclusively makes grants in metropolitan St. Louis concentrating on economic development and on neighborhood redevelopment and downtown revitalization. To date, the Danforth Foundation has given approximately $1 billion to education, science, and civic projects.

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

1943 -- Edward Doisy awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1944 -- Joseph Erlanger 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)

1947 -- Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Theresa Cori awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

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)

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1958 -- Integrated circuit invented.

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

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.

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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)

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

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

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.

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 -- Stowers Institute for Medical Research founded.

Stowers Institute for Medical Research is a not-for-profit research institute founded in 1994 that seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease through basic research on genes and proteins that control fundamental processes of cellular life. The Institute was founded by long-time Kansas City residents Jim and Virginia Stowers Inspired by their personal battles with cancer.

Jim Stowers is the founder of the multi-billion-dollar American Century Companies, and Virginia Stowers a nurse-anesthetist. Together, they have dedicated their personal fortune to benefiting humankind through basic research on genes and proteins. They believe this research will unlock the mysteries of disease and point the way to effective treatment and prevention.

The Stowers' to date have created combined endowments of nearly $2 billion in support of basic research. The Stowers Institute for Resource Development, a separate entity from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, is a support structure for the Institute and holds the majority of the Institute’s endowment. The Institute's 600,000 square-foot facility that opened it's doos in 2000 is situated on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, MO. Nearly 400 people work at the Institute, including nearly 380 members, including approximately 100 postdoctoral research associates and graduate students. Currently, the Institute houses twenty three independent research programs, including bioinformatics, proteomics, and imaging.

1998 -- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center founded.

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute founded in 1998 with a global vision to improve the human condition. Research at the Danforth Center is designed to feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew the environment, and enhance the St. Louis region as a world center for plant science. The Center is named for Donald Danforth who succeeded his father William H. Danforth as president of the Ralston-Purina Company based in St. Louis (founded by his father in 1897).

The Danforth Center was founded through gifts from the St. Louis-based Danforth Foundation, the Monsanto Fund, and a tax credit from the State of Missouri. Among the distinct features of the Center is the unique and innovative alliance joining the Danforth Center in collaborative research with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Monsanto Company, Purdue University, and Washington University in St. Louis.

2000 -- Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise founded.

Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, founded in 2000, is a not-for-profit 40,000 square foot plant and life sciences incubator in St. Louis. The mission of the Nidus Center is to speed innovative ideas in the life sciences to market by: nurturing entrepreneurs; protecting and growing innovative ideas; commercializing new technologies; attracting investment capital; and creating a world center for plant science and biotechnology in St. Louis.

2001 -- Human Genome Project draft sequence published.

2001 -- William S. Knowles awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

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Tell us about Missouri'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