- 1980 Albert-Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
Intro
1980 Albert-Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
American geneticist. In 1980, Dr Cohen was awarded the Albert-Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for “his imaginative and persevering studies of bacterial plasmids, for discovering new opportunities for manipulating and investigating the genetics of cells, and for establishing the biological promise of recombinant DNA methodology”
Education and Work Experience
1960, Medicine M.D., University of Pennsylvania
1977-Present, Professor of Genetics, Stanford University, School of Medicine
1978-1986, Chairman of Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University
1993-Present, Kwoh-Ting Li Professor, School of Medicine, Stanford University
Honors and Awards
1980, Albert-Lasker Basic Medical Research Award 1981, Wolf Prize in Medicine
1989, National Medal of Technology
2009, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Double Helix Medal for Scientific Research
Major Academic Achievements
Working with Dr Herbert Boyer, Dr Cohen began, in 1973, a stunning series of experiments. With the restriction enzyme EcoRI, an entirely new plasmid was constructed in vitro, and cloned in E. coli. Soon afterward, Dr. Cohen transplanted into E. coli genes from an unrelated bacterium and from an animal species. In both experiments, the transplanted genes were expressed in the new clones of cells. With these techniques, scientists can now modify the genetics of cells to create results which were unimaginable before the work of Dr. Cohen. It is now possible to use the chemical-synthesizing apparatus of one cell to produce substances from the genetic blueprints of a totally unrelated cell. Dr. Cohen's splendid contributions to recombinant DNA methodology launched a new era in biological research technology.