Stan Cohen is a
molecular biologist who was born in 1935 in Perth Amboy,
New Jersey. His
research has been very important to
molecular biology and the
biotechnology industry. He was the first
scientist to do
experiments in the
molecular cloning of
genes from one
strain of
bacteria into another. He is particularly noted for
cloning the
gene for resistance to
tetracycline, an
antibiotic found in
Staphylococcus aureus, into
Escherichia coli, which did not have
resistance to
tetracycline before. By doing this, he
demonstrated that it is possible to take
genes from one
organism, put them into a different
organism, and have the
gene survive intact and able to make functioning
proteins in the new
organism.
Cohen's work has won him many awards, including the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology.