You can’t talk about DNA testing without saluting Frederick Sanger for developing – in 1977 – a DNA sequencing technology used to sequence the first full genome – that of a virus called phiX174.
Genomic History
Some start the discovery clock ticking in the late 1850s, when Gregor Mendel carried out his pea plant experiments and showed that certain traits are passed on from one generation to the next in either a dominant or recessive manner.
Since then, we’ve experienced an explosion of technology development and scientific discoveries enabling us to make DNA testing accessible, and to deliver results that can have a huge positive impact on our daily lives and clinical outcomes.
- 1856-63 – Gregor Mendel’s pea plant experiments
- 1871 – Friedrich Miescher identifies ‘nuclein’, now known as DNA and associated proteins in the cell nucleus.
- 1952-53 – Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase to demonstrate that DNA, rather than protein, carries our genetic information.
- 1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick, with contributions from Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, discover the double helix structure of DNA
- 1977 – Sanger sequencing of first full genome – the virus phiX174
- 1990 – 2003 – Human Genome Project sequences the entire human genome
- 2007 – Invention of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
- 2016 – DNALabs makes genetic testing accessible