Timeline | Designer Babies

Genetics + Designer babies Timeline

Charles Darwin (February 12, 1809 - April 19, 1882) published his theory of natural selection in One the Origin of Species. His theory stated that organisms will either evolve or the ones that are most adapted to their environment are likely to survive, in a process called "survival of the fittest." Organisms that do survive, pass their traits to their offspring.

(Citation 25)

Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20, 1822 - January 6, 1884) - through experimentation with pea plants - discovered that the law of inheritance follows particular patterns, now known as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

1866

(Citation 56)

Walther Flemming (April 21, 1843 - August 4, 1905) used aniline dyes to find a structure that absorbed basophilic dyes, which was named chromatin. He later discovered that chromatins were related back to chromosomes that were in the nucleus.

Flemming also discovered a process which he called mitosis, where cells divide - later it was discovered that they split into two identical daughter cells.

Flemmings came to the conclusion that all nuclei came from another predecessor nucleus.

(Citation 57)

William Bateson (August 8, 1861 – February 8,1926) first used the term 'genetics' to describe heredity.

(Citation 32)

Wilhelm Johannsen (February 3, 1857 – November 11, 1927) introduced the terms 'gene', 'phenotype', and 'genotype'. He used gene to descibe the Mendelian unity of heredity and phenotype and genotype to differentiate between the genetic traits of an individual and their physical appeance.

(Citation 28, 59)

Archibald Garrod (November 25, 1857 – March 28, 1936) linked the disease alkaptonurnia with genetic inheritance, as descirbed in the Mendelian rules. This disease, accompanied with a recessive mutation, was one of the first conditions to be classified as genetic.

(Citation 58)

1859

1882

1906

1902

1909

1911

Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945) demonstrated, through fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) chromosomes, that chromosomes carry genes.

Morgan published in Science Magazine, that some traits were sex-linked and that the trait is probably carried on a sex chromosome.

(Citation 60)

(Image/Multimedia Citation 29)

Oswald Avery (October 21, 1877 - February 20, 1955), Colin MacLeod (January 28, 1909 - February 11, 1972), and Maclyn McCarty (June 9, 1911 - January 2, 2005), discovered that DNA is the "playmaker" for bacterial transformation, in the Avery-MacLeod-MacCarty Experiment.

(Citation 28, 62, 63, 64)

1944

Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992), through experiments with maize (corn), discovered that genes can move around on chromosomes.

McClintock produced the first genetic map for maize, thus linking regions of the chromosome to physical traits.

(Citation 28, 61)

1953

Francis Crick (June 8, 1916 - July 28, 2004) and James Watson (April 6, 1928-) discovered the double helix strcuture of the DNA molecule.

(Citation 65, 69)

1958

Matthew Meselson (May 24, 1930-) and Franklin Stahl (October 8, 1929-) demonstrated that each strand from the parent DNA molecule ends up paired with a new strand from the daughter strand, in the Meselson-Stahl experiment.

Meselson showed that DNA replicates, recombines, and is repaired in cells in a "semiconvservative" way.

(Citation 67, 68)

1983

A genetic marker for Huntington's disease was found on chromosome 4.

(Citation 28)

1987

The first human genetic map was based on variations in DNA sequence, which can be observed by digesting DNA with restriction enzymes, enzymes that cut DNA at or near specific recognition nucleotide sequences known as restriction sites.

(Citation 28, 71)

1955

Joe Hin Tjio (1919–2001) was the first to state that there is exactly 46 chromosomes in human cells.

(Citation 66)

Repetitive DNA sequences, microsatellites, were used as genetic landmarks to distinguish between individuals.

(Citation 26)

1989

The launch of the Human Genome Project by the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health to sequence the human genome.

(Citation 28, 70)

1990

1992

A French team built a microsatellite genetic map of the human genome, thus helping geneticists more quickly to locate disease genes on chromosomes of humans.

1996

Lab mice were cost-effective and efficient, therefore used for genetic
research because mice and human genes, on average, are 85% identical. This increased the utility of mice as animal models for genetic disease in humans.

(Citation 27, 72)

1999

The first completed and full-length sequence of a human chromosome was produced (chromosome 22).

Theodor Boveri (October 12, 1862 - October 1915) demonstrated that chromosomes remain organized through cell division, sperm and egg cells each contribute the same number of chromosomes, and individual chromosomes uniquely impact development.

(Citation 29, 30)

2003

Human Genome Project finished and continual sequencing led to the announcement of the essentially complete genome in April, two years earlier than once planned, with 99% accuracy (3.2 billion letters).

(Citation 28, 70)

1976

The first sucessful manipulation was on mice, on January 1, to produce more accurate disease models and test tubes.

(Citation 27, 28, 32)

Jacques Cohen (December 26, 1951 -) reported the first modificataion in human genome - infertillity produced 2 babies with DNA from 2 different mothers.

(Citation 32, 37)

2000

Adam Nash, the first designer baby - born in the US, was created to donate his umbilical cord blood to his sister, Molly, who was born with multiple birth defects due to Fanconi anemia.

(Citation 1, 2)

2006

23andMe, a personal genomics and biotechnology company that provides genetic testing, was founded by Linda Avey (born 1960), Paul Cusenza, and Anne Wojcicki (July 28, 1973-).

It was founded to provide genetic testing and interpretation to individuals.

(Citation 33, 34, 35)

Linda Avey

(Image/Multimedia Citation 28)

Paul Cusenza

(Image/Multimedia Citation 27)

Anne Wojcicki

(Image/Multimedia Citation 29)

Charles Darwin

(Image/Multimedia Citation 33)

Gregor Medel

(Image/Multimedia Citation 34 )

(Image/Multimedia Citation 36)

Walther Flemming, chromatin

(Image/Multimedia Citation Citation 35, 80)

Mitosis

(Image/Multimedia Citation 30)

Archibald Garrod
(Image/Multimedia Citation 71)

Theodor Boveri
(Image/Multimedia Citation 31)

William Bateson

(Image/Multimedia Citation 35)

Wilhelm Johannsen
(Image/Multimedia Citation 37)

Thomas Hunt Morgan

(Image/Multimedia Citation 38)

Barbara McClintock, gene

(Image/Multimedia Citation 39, 81)

Oswald Avery

(Image/Multimedia Citation 42)

Colin MacLeod

(Image/Multimedia Citation 43)

Maclyn McCarty

(Image/Multimedia Citation 44)

Francis Crick

(Image/Multimedia Citation 45)

Joe Hin Tjio

(Image/Multimedia Citation 46)

James Watson

(Image/Multimedia Citation 47)

Double Helix

(Image/Multimedia Citation 48)

Mattew Meselson

(Image/Multimedia Citation 49)

Franklin Stahl

(Image/Multimedia Citation 50)

(Image/Multimedia Citation 51)

Louise Joy Brown

(Image/Multimedia Citation 52)

(Image/Multimedia Citation 53)

(Image/Multimedia Citation 54)

Molly and Adam Nash

(Image/Multimedia Citation 40)

Jacques Cohen

(Image/Multimedia Citation 13)

In September, 23andMe received a patent to use DNA tests to create designer babies. (U.S. Patent #8,543,339; titled “Gamete donor selection based on genetic calculations").

(Citation 36)