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.