Cohen, Stanley N.
COHEN, STANLEY N.
COHEN, STANLEY N. (1935– ), U.S. geneticist. Cohen was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in biology and as an M.D. from the Pennsylvania School of Medicine (1960). After research training at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, he joined the faculty of Stanford University (1968), where his appointments included chairman of the Department of Genetics and then professor of genetics and medicine and director of the S.N. Cohen Laboratory. His early research dealt with the ability of plasmids to alter the properties of the bacteria they colonize, a subject of fundamental importance to the development of antibiotic resistance. His pioneering research interests involved isolating, cloning, and propagating mammalian genes in other species, including bacteria (also known as recombinant technology). This work laid the foundation for biotechnological techniques enabling the production of large quantities of pure proteins for diagnostic and medicinal purposes. His many honors include the Lasker Award (1980), the Wolf Prize (1981), the Albany Medical Center Prize (2004), election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Medals in both Science and Technology.
[Michael Denman (2nd ed.)]