The graceful lines of the DNA double helix were not discovered until 1953. And the first gene-splicing occurred only in 1973. That year, Stanley N. Cohen of Stanford University and Herbert Boyer of the University of California in San Francisco pooled their talents to insert a piece of foreign DNA into a bacterium. During the next few years, researchers began to discover the genetic mutations responsible for such diseases as sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis. As the century closes, researchers are completing the human genome project, which will give them the entire genetic code: the blueprint for Homo sapiens.

Related Links
NIH: "National Human Genome Research Institute"

Genentech: "Biotech Chronicles: The Story of DNA"

"Human Genome Project Information"