PHILADELPHIA, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chemical Heritage Foundation
(CHF) and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) have awarded the
Biotechnology 2001 Heritage Award to Francis S. Collins, director of the
National Human Genome Research Institute; and J. Craig Venter, president of
Celera Genomics, for their key roles in the sequencing of the human genome.
The annual award, which will be presented at the BIO 2001 International
Convention and Exhibition, recognizes individuals who have made significant
contributions to the development of biotechnology through discovery,
innovation, and public understanding.
"We are thrilled to present the Biotechnology Heritage Award to Collins
and Venter for their pioneering work," said Arnold Thackray, president of CHF.
"This prize represents our efforts to record the seminal moments in the
development of biotechnology," he added.
When these institutions, led by Collins and Venter, published the human
genome in June of 2000, it marked a milestone for biology, biochemistry,
biotechnology, and the pharmaceutical sciences. The determination of the
precise sequence of the four chemical bases of DNA along human chromosomes
opened up virtually limitless possibilities for science and technology.
Future analysis of the human genome will allow researchers to identify new
genes, along with their roles in health and disease. Moreover, the sequence
of the human genome holds great promise to become, in the words of Nobel
laureate and Caltech president David Baltimore, "an engine of pharmaceutical
discovery."
About Francis S. Collins
Collins is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute
and chief of Genetic and Molecular Biology at the National Institutes of
Health (NIH). In 1992, Collins assumed leadership of the Human Genome Project
-- the publicly funded effort to sequence the human genome using the clone-
based physical mapping approach. Before directing the Human Genome Project,
Collins was professor of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics and chief of
Medical Genetics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Medical School.
Collins's research on "positional cloning" allowed for the identification of
genes responsible for diseases, including those for cystic fibrosis and
Huntington's disease. He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Yale in
1974, and his M.S. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in
1977.
About J. Craig Venter
Venter is president of Celera Genomics, senior vice president of Applera
(Celera's parent company, formerly named PE Corporation), and a trustee of The
Institute of Genomic Research, a non-profit organization he founded in 1992.
After establishing Celera in 1998, Venter led the effort to sequence the
human genome using the whole-genome shotgun sequencing approach. The
Institute of Genomic Research produced the first complete genome of an
organism, the Haemophilus influenzae bacterium. Venter earned his Ph.D. in
Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California, San Diego, in
1975. After serving on the faculty of the State University of New York,
Buffalo, as professor of Pharmacology and then professor of Biochemistry, he
was a section chief with the NIH's Institute of Neurological Diseases and
Stroke from 1984 to 1992.
CHF and the History of Biotechnology
The enabling technologies of human genome sequencing date back to the
1950s when an ultracentrifuge pioneered by Beckman Instruments automated the
process of separating, recording, and identifying amino acids in DNA. Beckman
Instruments was founded by Arnold O. Beckman, a Caltech professor whose
innovations led him to be known as the "father of scientific instrumentation."
Beckman's career eventually turned philanthropic and his endowment to CHF
enabled the Biomolecular Sciences Initiative (BIMOSI) project -- aimed to
document and advance the history of the biotech revolution "in the making."
Through the BIMOSI project, CHF published A Guide to the Human Genome Project
for teachers, journalists, and others who needed a concise introduction to the
topic. BIMOSI also brought together industry leaders for a debate in the 1997
landmark symposium, "The Emergence of Biotechnology: DNA to Genentech," and
spawned the critical publication Private Science: Biotechnology and the Rise
of the Molecular Sciences.
The Chemical Heritage Foundation
CHF was founded in 1982 by joint action of the American Chemical Society
and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. The foundation seeks to
advance the heritage of the chemical and molecular sciences by collecting and
disseminating information about historical resources; encouraging research,
scholarship, and popular writing; publishing resource guides and historical
materials; conducting oral histories; creating traveling exhibits and other
educational resource materials; and taking other appropriate steps to make
known the achievements of chemical scientists and the chemical process
industries. For more information on the Chemical Heritage Foundation and its
programs, visit CHF's Web site at http://www.chemheritage.org .
The Biotechnology Industry Organization
BIO represents more than 950 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50
U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and
development of health care, agricultural, industrial and environmental
biotechnology products.
SOURCE Biotechnology Industry Organization
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Related links:
http://www.bio.org
http://www.chemheritage.org
CONTACT:
Scott Lockledge of Chemical Heritage
Foundation, 215-925-2222, ext. 305, or scottl@chemheritage.org,
Susan Walsh of Gibbs & Soell, Inc., 212-697-2600, ext. 204, or
swalsh@gibbs-soell.com, or Debbie Strickland of Biotechnology
Industry Organization, 202-857-0244, or dstrickland@bio.org
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