Herbert W. Boyer (1936–)

With the public launch of Genentech (short for “genetic engineering technology”) in 1976, company cofounders Herbert W. Boyer and Robert A. Swanson created the biotechnology revolution of the late 1970s. From 1976 to 1990 Boyer served as vice president of Genentech, now a leading biotechnology company best known for manufacturing and marketing biopharmaceutical products. In 1990 he became a member of its board of directors.

Boyer, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania, completed a B.S. in biology and chemistry at St. Vincent’s and a Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh. He did postdoctoral research at Yale University and in 1966 began an assistant professorship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is now professor emeritus of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF as well as chairman of the board of Allergan, a technology-driven global health-care company.

Boyer is known for his work in developing recombinant DNA technology. By 1969 his work on a bacterial gut enzyme, Esceruscua coli, led Boyer to research the activity of restriction enzymes—bacterial proteins that cleave double-stranded DNA at specific base-pair sites, leaving overhanging single-stranded ends, which were later dubbed “sticky ends.” Two pieces of DNA stick to each other, or anneal, if they are cut with the same restriction enzyme. Working with collaborators, Boyer used this property to develop recombinant DNA technology, which allows for the splicing together of DNA from different sources and the insertion of these recombinant DNA molecules into bacteria for study and product development. In 1978 Genentech successfully produced human insulin using this method. This technique formed the basis for the biotechnology industry.