Herbert Wayne "Herb" Boyer (born July 10, 1936) is an American biotechnologist, researcher and entrepreneur in biotechnology. Along with Stanley N. Cohen and Paul Berg, he discovered

recombinant DNA Recombinant DNA (rDNA) molecules are DNA molecules formed by laboratory methods of genetic recombination (such as molecular cloning) that bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be fo ...

, a method to coax bacteria into producing foreign proteins, which aided in jump-starting the field of

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

. By 1969, he had performed studies on a couple of restriction enzymes of ''E. coli'' with especially useful properties. He is recipient of the 1990

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...

, co-recipient of the 1996 Lemelson–MIT Prize, and a co-founder of

Genentech Genentech, Inc. is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It operates as an independent subsidiary of holding company Roche. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent cent ...

. He was professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and later served as vice president of Genentech from 1976 until his retirement in 1991.

Early life and education

Herbert Boyer was born in 1936 in Derry, Pennsylvania. He received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in biology and chemistry from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1958. He married his wife Grace the following year. He received his PhD at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

in 1963 and participated as an activist in the

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

movement.

Career

Boyer spent three years in postdoctoral work at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in the laboratories of Professors Edward Adelberg and Bruce Carlton, and then became an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco and a professor of biochemistry from 1976 to 1991, where he discovered that genes from bacteria could be combined with genes from

eukaryote The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...

s. In 1977, Boyer's laboratory and collaborators Keiichi Itakura and Arthur Riggs at City of Hope National Medical Center described the first-ever synthesis and expression of a peptide-coding gene. In August 1978, he produced synthetic

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the insulin (''INS)'' gene. It is the main Anabolism, anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabol ...

using his new transgenic genetically modified bacteria, followed in 1979 by a growth hormone. In 1976, Boyer founded

with venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson. Genentech's approach to the first synthesis of

won out over Walter Gilbert's approach at Biogen which used whole

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

s from natural sources. Boyer built his gene from its individual

nucleotide Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...

s. In 1990, Boyer and his wife Grace gave the single largest donation ($10,000,000) bestowed on the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

by an individual. The Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine was named after the Boyer family in 1991. At the Class of 2007 Commencement, St. Vincent College announced that they had renamed the School of Natural Science, Mathematics, and Computing the Herbert W. Boyer School. Among his professional activities, Boyer is on the board of directors of Scripps Research.

Awards

*1980 the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research *1981 the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement *1982 the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) Achievement Award *1989 the National Medal of Technology *1990 the

from President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

*1993 Helmut Horten Research Award *2000 Biotechnology Heritage Award with Robert A. Swanson, from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Chemical Heritage Foundation *2004 Albany Medical Center Prize (shared with Stanley N. Cohen) *2004 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine *2005 Winthrop-Sears Medal *2007 Perkin Medal *200
CSHL Double Helix Medal Honoree

References

*''They Made America'' by Harold Evans (Little Brown, 2004) and in the subsequent WGBH television series.

External links

Science History Institute: The story of the 1975 Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Herbert 1936 births Living people 20th-century American biologists American biotechnologists American civil rights activists American company founders American pharmaceutical industry businesspeople Genentech people History of biotechnology History of genetics Lemelson–MIT Prize Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences National Medal of Science laureates National Medal of Technology recipients People from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Saint Vincent College alumni University of California, San Francisco faculty University of Pittsburgh alumni