Genetic engineering
DNA from one organism is spliced into another, and biologists pause to write rules.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 2 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
Boyer and Cohen produce functioning recombinant DNA in 1973. Recognising the risks, the researchers themselves call a moratorium and convene the Asilomar conference in 1975 to agree containment guidelines before proceeding — a rare instance of a field regulating itself in advance. Human insulin produced in bacteria reaches patients by 1982, replacing extraction from animal pancreases.