Stanford and UCSF. In 1980 Paul Berg, a professor in the Biochemistry Department at Stanford and an author on one of the first papers was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on nucleic acids "with particular regard to recombinant DNA". Werner Arber, Hamilton Smith, and Daniel Nathans shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction endonucleases which enhanced the techniques of rDNA technology. Stanford University applied for a US patent on recombinant DNA in 1974, listing the inventors as Herbert W. Boyer (professor at the University of California, San Francisco) and Stanley N. Cohen (professor at Stanford University); this patent was awarded in 1980. The first licensed drug generated using recombinant DNA technology was human insulin, developed by Genentech and licensed by Eli Lilly and Company. Controversy Scientists associated with the initial development of recombinant DNA methods recognized that the potential existed for organisms containing recombinant DNA to have undesirable or dangerous properties. At the 1975 Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA, these concerns were discussed and a voluntary moratorium on recombinant DNA research was initiated for experiments that were considered particularly risky. This moratorium was widely observed until the National Institutes of Health (USA) developed and issued formal guidelines for rDNA work. Today, recombinant DNA molecules and recombinant proteins are usually not regarded as dangerous. However, concerns remain about some organisms that express recombinant DNA, particularly when they leave the laboratory and are introduced into the environment or food chain. These concerns are discussed in the articles on genetically modified organisms and genetically modified food controversies. Furthermore, there are concerns about the by-products in biopharmaceutical production, where recombinant DNA result in specific protein products. The major by-product, termed host cell protein, comes from the host expression system and poses a threat to the patient's health and the overall environment. See also Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA Genetic engineering Genetically modified organism Recombinant virus Vector DNA Biomolecular engineering Recombinant DNA technology Host cell protein T7 expression system References Further reading The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology. Touchstone Books, . 2nd edition: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1996 paperback: . Micklas, David. 2003. DNA Science: A First Course. Cold Spring Harbor Press: . Rasmussen, Nicolas, Gene Jockeys: Life Science and the rise of Biotech Enterprise, Johns Hopkins University Press, (Baltimore), 2014. . Rosenfeld, Israel. 2010. DNA: A Graphic