A new era has begun in the medical industry since Drs. Watson and Crick discovered the unique DNA structure and function in 1953. Advanced medical biotechnology has made it easy for doctors to diagnose diseases and treat them effectively. Without the use of scientific advancements and biotechnology, it is challenging to meet the medical requirements in the healthcare industry. Biotechnology has become a prominent part of the medical world, whether it produces diagnostics and treatments for diseases or improves the immune system against diseases. It influences the medical industry in several ways. The advancement of technology has reduced the gap between biology and engineering. Biomedical technologies are becoming more and more advanced with time and development, making it easier for doctors and medical professionals to perform their procedures effectively.
The new inventions provide proven benefits for the patients and the entire healthcare system. The credit for the modernization of biotechnology inventions and innovations goes to several scientists and researchers who aim to positively change the healthcare industry. These researchers and scientists have discovered inventions that have made lengthy medical processes less complicated and provided great relief to the patients. Among such great individuals who created an impact in creating medical biotechnology solutions are Dr. Roberto Crea. He is well-known as one of the fathers of synthetic (or recombinant) human insulin.
Dr. Roberto is a pioneer in biotechnology who has more than 40 years of work experience in Biotechnology and Nutritional Sciences. Dr. Crea’s unconventional ideas and innovations have brought many advancements in the field of biotechnology.
Born on July 1st, 1948, Dr. Roberto Crea is an Italian American scientist and entrepreneur. He attended the University of Pavia, Italy, for graduation in Biological Chemistry. He had an interest in this field since the beginning of his graduate studies. Dr. Crea had a passion for helping the patients and improving healthcare systems through his innovations in healthcare technology. In order to pursue his dream, he chose to study Biological Chemistry and completed his graduation in 1972. Dr. Roberto’s journey in biotechnology started with new discoveries, intellectual thoughts, and innovative approaches. After his graduation, Dr. Crea went to the University of Leiden in Holland to master the synthesis of DNA and RNA. He gave multiple innovative ideas and shared his intellectual thoughts with the fellows in the world working with chemically synthesized genes.
His ideas soon caught the attention of one of the first biotech companies in the U.S.A, Genentech, Inc, in 1976, where he was offered to work with other scientists in the “Gene synthesis” team at City of Hope Medical Center in California. There, he worked with fellow scientists from Japan, China, and Poland. He made significant improvements to the synthesis of DNA that resulted in the first two U.S. Patents assigned to Genentech. Due to his scientific discoveries and with the help of other scientists in Molecular Biology and Protein Biochemistry, Dr. Crea and his colleagues at Genentech successfully produced 1978 the first human insulin from bacteria, which was brought great relief to diabetic patients saluted as a milestone event by the medical industry and the scientific world.
The discovery of synthetic, recombinant DNA human insulin added a new life to the therapy of diabetic patients worldwide. Before discovering human insulin, thousands of diabetic patients were allergic to animal insulin, causing a high number of deaths among diabetic patients. The production of human insulin by Genentech and City of Hope did not just provide relief to the patients and saved many lives but also created the beginning of the whole industry of biotechnology worldwide. Dr. Roberto’s contribution to this great discovery has been pivotal to the success of Genentech, Inc. and opened the gate to the hundreds of new biotech Companies that followed the success of Genentech. This Italian American scientist has indeed made a great contribution to the success of modern medical biotechnology. Dr. Crea has also co-authored the first report on recombinant DNA production of the mammalian hormone in bacteria, called Somatostatin. It was also the first time that “synthetic” DNA had a fundamental role in recombinant DNA and biotechnology. As the sole inventor of the first two U.S. patents for synthetic DNA at Genentech and because of its original approach to gene synthesis, Dr. Crea received the Rumbough Award by the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in 1979.
Dr. Crea also contributed by teaching science to University students. Leiden University appointed him as an Associate Professor in DNA Chemical Synthesis. He also worked as a faculty member of Chemistry Gorlaeus Laboratoria in Leiden. His lecture at UCSF convinced many people to get involved in synthetic. DNA. Notoriously, Dr. Kary Mullis, a Berkeley American student, became a Nobel Price in Chemistry in 1993 for his discovery of DNA chain polymerase. Because of his scientific creativity, unconventional ideas, and great contribution, Dr. Roberto Crea was appointed as the First Director of the Nucleic Acid department at Genentech. He also joined the University of Messina as a visiting professor, where he taught Human Molecular Genetics.
The vision of combining chemistry, biology, and engineering by the two Genentech founders, Robert Swanson and Prof. Herbert Boyer, at UCSF became a reality with Dr.Crea’s new ideas on how to improve and streamline the synthesis of DNA in 1978 and opened many opportunities in modern Medicine by paving the way for many companies worldwide that today collectively are recognized as part of the “synthetic biology” revolution. Dr. Roberto Crea’s substantial experience and scientific creativity at Genentech led him to start his long-time entrepreneurship career. He set foot in business with his first company, Creative Biomolecules, which he started in 1982. He started the company to utilize synthetic DNA for developing effective health products for soft and hard tissue repair and cancer treatment. In 1991, the company merged into Curis, Inc. – a NASDAQ publicly-traded company. He then founded various medical biotechnology companies to bring relief to many patients affected by devastating diseases, like cancer, cardiovascular and malignant pain. Later he founded Bioren, Inc., one of the first Monoclonal antibody engineering companies globally. This and the numerous patents developed by Bioren prompted Pfizer, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world with more than 3 billion dollars in internal R&D spending, to acquire Dr. Crea’s company in 2006 and incorporate Bioren’s numerous discoveries in its own R&D organization.
Out of this successful event, Dr. Crea formed one of his latest biotech organizations, Protelica, Inc., to explore how to use innovation in protein engineering to help in cancer immunology therapy. His efforts may lead soon to some very exciting new drugs for ovarian and other solid tumors!
Dr. Roberto Crea’s discoveries and contributions have made him one of America’s greatest researchers and scientists. He is an idol in Biotechnology and an inspiration for the individuals aiming to help humanity with the help of science.
