Herbert Boyer
USINFO | 2013-11-20 16:45
The Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine 2004 Laureate
 


Herbert W. Boyer

 
Born July 10, 1936 (age 77)  
Fields Biology Scientist  
Notable awards National Medal of Science (1990)

Herbert W. Boyer received his master degree and doctorate in bacteriology in 1960 and 1963 respectively from the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.

He is a recipient of National Medal of Science, co-recipient of the 1996 Lemelson–MIT Prize, and a co-founder of Genentech. He served as Vice President of Genentech from 1976 through his retirement in 1991.
  
Life and career
Boyer was born in Derry, Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor's degree 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 in 1963 and participated as an activist in the civil rights movement. He spent three years in post-graduate work at Yale University in the laboratories of Professors Edward Adelberg and Bruce Carlton, 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 eukaryotes. In 1977, Boyer's laboratory and collaborators 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 using his new transgenic genetically modified bacteria, followed in 1979 by a growth hormone.

In 1976, Boyer founded Genentech with venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson. Genentech's approach to the first synthesis of insulin won out over Walter Gilbert's approach at Biogen which used genes from natural sources. Boyer built his gene from its individual nucleotides.
 
In 1990 April, Boyer and his wife Grace gave the single largest donation ($10,000,000) bestowed on the Yale School of Medicine 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 Scientific Governors of The Scripps Research Institute.
 
Awards
1980 the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
1982 the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) Achievement Award
1989 the National Medal of Technology
1990 the National Medal of Science from President George H. W. Bush
1993 Helmut Horten Research Award
2004 Albany Medical Center Prize (shared with Stanley N. Cohen)
2004 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine
2007 Perkin Medal
2009 CSHL Double Helix Medal Honoree

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