Montana BioHistory

Learn about the scientists behind the discoveries, entrepreneurs,
political leaders, and significant events, people and institutions that are the foundation
of the biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceutical and life science industries
in the state of Montana.

Tell us about Montana's BioHistory. If you are aware of a notable event, person,
organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail: BioHistory@InfoResource.org

1848 -- American Association for the Advancement of Science founded.

American Association for the Advancement of Science founded in 1848 marked the emergence of a national scientific community in the United States, and was the first organization established to promote the development of science and engineering at the national level and to represent the interests of all its disciplines.

Today, the AAAS serves nearly 300 affiliated societies and academies of science and publishes the peer-reviewed general science journal Science. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives that include science policy, international programs, science education, and public understanding of science.

1859 -- Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species."

In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life" in which he postulated his theory of evolution that explained how the diverse of species on Earth evolved from a simple, singled-celled ancestor.

From 1831-1836, Darwin served as a naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle -- a British science expedition around the world. In South America Darwin discovered fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species, and on the Galapagos Islands, located west of Equador, he noticed many variations of plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. Throughout the expedition Darwin studied plants and animals and collected specimens for further study.

Upon his return to London, Darwin conducted thorough research of his notes and specimens, and out of his study grew several related theories: evolution did occur; evolutionary change was gradual, requiring thousands to millions of years; the primary mechanism for evolution was a process called natural selection; and the millions of species alive today arose from a single original life form through a branching process called "specialization."

Darwin's theory of evolutionary selection holds that variation within species occurs randomly and that the survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism's ability to adapt to its environment. Darwin's theory of evolution remains the foundation of modern biology.

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1865 -- Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, presents his laws of heredity.

1887 -- Marine Hospital Service Hygienic Laboratory (National Institutes of Health) founded.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) traces its roots to 1887, when a one-room laboratory was created within the Marine Hospital Service (MHS), predecessor agency to the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The MHS was established in 1798 to provide for the medical care of merchant seamen -- charged by Congress with examining passengers on arriving ships for clinical signs of infectious diseases, such as cholera and yellow fever, to prevent epidemics.

During the 1870s and 1880s, scientists in Europe presented compelling evidence that microscopic organisms were the causes of several infectious diseases, and MHS officials closely followed these developments. In 1887, Joseph Kinyoun, a MHS physician trained in the new bacteriological methods, set up a one-room laboratory in the Marine Hospital at Stapleton, Staten Island, New York. Kinyoun called this facility a "laboratory of hygiene" in imitation of German facilities, and within a few months, he identified the cholera bacillus and used his Zeiss microscope to demonstrate it to his colleagues as confirmation of their clinical diagnoses.

The Biologics Control Act enacted in 1902 had major consequences for the Hygienic Laboratory. It charged the laboratory with regulating the production of vaccines and antitoxins, making it a regulatory agency four years before passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. The danger posed by biological products that had emerged from bacteriologic discoveries resulted from their production in animals and their administration by injection. In 1901, thirteen children in St. Louis died after receiving diphtheria antitoxin contaminated with tetanus spores. This tragedy spurred Congress to pass the Biologics Control Act, and between 1903-1907 standards were established and licenses issued to pharmaceutical firms for making smallpox and rabies vaccines, diphtheria and tetanus antitoxins, and various other antibacterial antisera. (In 1972, responsibility for regulation of biologics was transferred to the Food and Drug Administration). (Photo: courtesy of the NIH Almanac)

In 1912 MHS was reorganized, renamed the Public Health Service (PHS) and authorized to conduct research into noncontagious diseases and into the pollution of streams and lakes in the U.S. During World War I, the PHS attended primarily to sanitation of areas around military bases in the U.S., and when the 1918 influenza pandemic struck Washington, physicians from the laboratory were pressed into service treating patients in the District of Columbia because so many local doctors had fallen ill. In 1930, the Ransdell Act changed the name of the Hygienic Laboratory to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and authorized the establishment of fellowships for research into basic biological and medical problems. The roots of this act extended to 1918, when chemists who had worked with the Chemical Warfare Service in World War I sought to establish an institute in the private sector to apply fundamental knowledge in chemistry to problems of medicine. In 1937, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was created with sponsorship from every Senator in Congress, and was authorized to award grants to nonfederal scientists for research on cancer and to fund fellowships at NCI for young researchers.

During World War II, the NIH focused almost entirely on war-related problems. At the close of the war, PHS leaders guided through Congress the 1944 Public Health Service Act, which defined the shape of medical research in the post-war world. Two provisions were especially important: 1) In 1946 the NCI grants program was expanded to the entire NIH, and the program grew from just over $4 million in 1947, to more than $100 million in 1957, and to $1 billion in 1974. The entire NIH budget expanded from $8 million in 1947 to more than $1 billion in 1966, now fondly remembered as "the golden years" of NIH expansion. Accompanying growth in the grants program was the proliferation of new categorical institutes, and from 1946-1949, voluntary health organizations moved Congress to create institutes for research on mental health, dental diseases, and heart disease. In 1948, language in the National Heart Act made the name of the umbrella organization the National Institutes of Health. 2) The 1944 PHS Act authorized NIH to conduct clinical research, and after the war Congress provided funding to build a research hospital, now called the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The Center which opened in 1953 with 540 beds was designed to bring research laboratories into close proximity with hospital wards in order to promote productive collaboration between laboratory scientists and clinicians. (Photo: National Archives and Records Administration photograph, courtesy of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York)

The NIH today, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research and is composed of 27 Institutes and Centers, providing leadership and financial support to researchers in every state and throughout the world.

1893 -- The Agricultural College of the State of Montana founded.

On February 16, 1893, the Agricultural College of the State of Montana was founded as the state's land-grant college. In the 1920's, the institution's was known as Montana State College and remained so until July 1, 1965, when, in recognition of the advances in the College's commitment to scientific and humanistic research, the state Legislature changed the college's name to Montana State University (MSU).

Today, MSU has a national and international reputation for its excellence in undergraduate and graduate education in the liberal arts and sciences, agriculture, architecture, education, engineering, health and human development, and nursing. Students receive a high-quality, well-rounded education and training for professional careers in the University’s three colleges – arts and sciences, forestry and conservation, and technology – and six schools – journalism, law, business, education, pharmacy and the fine arts.

1893 -- University of Montana founded.

The University of Montana (UM), located in Missoula, was founded in 1893. Today, UM is a magnet not only for top-notch teachers and researchers, but also for students from across the country and around the globe.

1896 -- Rocky Mountain spotted fever first recognized.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever was first recognized in 1896 in the Snake River Valley of Idaho and was originally called "black measles" because of the characteristic rash. It was a dreaded and frequently fatal disease that affected hundreds of people in this area. By the early 1900s, the geographic distribution of the disease encompassed parts of the U.S. from Washington and Montana to California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

In response to this severe problem, the Rocky Mountain Laboratory was established in Hamilton, Montana. Beginning in the 1930s, it became evident that this disease occurred in many areas of the United States and it is now recognized that this disease is broadly distributed throughout the continental U,S., as well as southern Canada, Central America, Mexico, and parts of South America. Between 1981 and 1996, this disease was reported from every U.S. state except Hawaii, Vermont, Maine, and Alaska.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever remains a serious and potentially life-threatening infectious disease today. Despite the availability of effective treatment and advances in medical care, approximately 3%-5% of individuals who become ill with Rocky Mountain spotted fever still die from the infection. However, effective antibiotic therapy has dramatically reduced the number of deaths caused by Rocky Mountain spotted fever; before the discovery of tetracycline and chloramphenicol in the late 1940s, as many as 30% of persons infected with R. rickettsii died.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

1899 -- Flathead Lake Biological Station established.

Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS) established near Bigfork in 1899 by Dr. Morton J. Elrod, Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Montana, is one of the oldest active biological field research stations in the United States. The Station was moved to Yellow Bay in 1908.

Since its founding, students from all over the world have visited the station to learn about biology. By 1977, year-round research was being conducted at the Morton J. Elrod Laboratory, and in 1981 with the construction of the state-of-the-art Schoonover Freshwater Research Laboratory, the Flathead Lake Biological Station became one of the finest freshwater research facilities in the country.

Today, scientists at FLBS strive for discoveries that advance understanding of natural and cultural inter-relationships in an ecosystem context with research focused on freshwater: rain, snow, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, rivers, floodplains, wetlands, groundwaters and watersheds. Much of FLBS research is done locally in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. Four laboratory buildings house the inside biology, limnology, aquatic ecology, and terrestrial ecology labs and specialized research projects.

1918 -- Spanish Influenza Pandemic.

It is estimated that between 25 and 40 million people died from the the influenza outbreak that began in 1918, swept across America in a week and around the world in three months. In all, between 500,000 and 700,000 Americans --civilians and soldiers-- died from the influenza, more than were lost in World War I, II, and the Korean and Viet Nam wars combined.

Latest Findings: In September 2004, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a five-year, $12.5 million grant to five institutions that will collaborate to study genes constructed from 1918 flu-virus particles salvaged from the bodies of World War I soldiers and the exhumed Brevig Mission, Alaska resident. The Institutions include the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York; Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the University of Washington. The ultimate goal is to use knowledge gained from the study to develop vaccines, influenza medications and diagnostic tests to prevent a similar influenza outbreak.

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1921 -- Rocky Mountain Laboratory established in Hamilton.

As the population expanded westward, many early settlers in the Montana foothills of the Bitteroot Range of the Rocky Mountains were plagued with a disease known as "black measles," or "spotted fever," now known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever. In 1902, the U.S. Public Health Service sent out a research team to find the cause. Tents, cabins, and an old schoolhouse were used for housing the early Rocky Mountain Laboratory where researchers determined that the disease was transmitted by ticks, identified the cause as what is now called Rickettsia rickettsii, and formulated a vaccine against the agent.

In gratitude, the state of Montana built a new facility which the Public Health Service purchased in 1931. The Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML)in Hamilton, MT, became part of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health in 1937. During World War II, the RML prepared yellow fever and typhus vaccines for military forces.

Today, RML is a state-of-the-art research facility occupied by world-class scientists with a mission to study infectious microbes that cause disease in humans and animals. Because of its long history and expertise in infectious disease research, RML is poised to play a leading role in the nation’s fight against bioterrorism and emerging infections. NIAID now plans to construct a 100,000-square-foot Integrated Research Facility housing laboratories with BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratory suites similar to those already on the RML campus, and a suite of laboratories designed to operate at Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4). Even before the current emphasis on biodefense, RML scientists were studying organisms that cause a variety of infectious diseases, including plague, Lyme disease, rabies, HIV, tuberculosis, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and Q fever.

1933 -- Thomas Hunt Morgan awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his chromosome theory of heredity.

1943-1977 -- Mike Mansfield represents Montana in U.S. Congress.

Mike Mansfield served Montana as Representative and Senator in the U.S. Congress for thiry-four years, and his actions had an enduring impact in the Big Sky state. (Photo: Mike Mansfield courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office)

Mansfield served as a Representative from 1943-1952, and U.S. Senator from 1952-1977 serving as chairman, Special Committee on Campaign Expenditures, Democratic whip (1957-1961), majority leader (1961-1977), chairman, Committee on Rules and Administration, Select Committee on Secret and Confidential Documents, and Special Committee on Secret and Confidential Documents. Manfield also server as Ambassador to Japan from 1977-1988; and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1989. Examples of Mansfield's impact in Montana includes:

• The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana, created in 1983 as an academic unit of the university, the Center honors the lives and legacy of Senator Mike Mansfield and his wife, Maureen Hayes Mansfield, to whom the Senator gave credit for many of his accomplishments.
• The Mansfield Library at the University of Montana-Missoula that furthers education and "resources for the mind."
• The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation was created in 1983 to advance Maureen and Mike Mansfield's life-long efforts to promote understanding and cooperation among nations and peoples of Asia and the United States.

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1947 -- Transistor invented at AT&T's Bell Laboratories.

The transistor, the invention that marked the dawn of the information age, was invented by John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain at AT&T's Bell Laboratories. Bardeen, Shockley and Brattain were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the transistor effect.

Transistors have become an invisible technology that is part of almost every electronic device. Every major information age innovation was made possible by the transistor and its application can be found all around us. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

1953 -- Double helix structure of DNA revealed.

The double helix structure of DNA, the hereditary molecule is revealed by two scientists, James D. Watson and Francis Crick. This is one of the key discoveries of the century. Watson and Crick shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with Maurice Wilkins for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nuclear acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.

Rosalind Franklin, whose work contributed to the discovery, died before this date and the rules do not allow a Nobel Prize to be awarded posthumously. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

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1954 -- McLaughlin Research Institute established.

McLaughlin Research Institute is an independent, non-profit research organization in Great Falls, Montana near the Rocky Mountain Front. Institute research focuses on understanding the genetic control of normal development and disease susceptibility using the mouse as a model system.

The Institute began in 1954 with the arrival of Dr. Ernst Eichwald, recruited as a pathologist by the Montana Deaconess Hospital. Eichwald's work in the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine focused on tissue transplantation and transplant rejection. Early work at the Institute by Eichwald and later by Dr. Jack Stimpfling played an important role in the eventual development of successful protocols for organ transplantation in humans. (Photo: Dr. Ernst Eichwald & Dr. Jack Stimpfling in front of one of two abandoned grocery stores that served as temporary homes for the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine, predecessor to the McLaughlin Research Institute. Courtesy: McLaughlin Research Institute)

In 1964, Eichwald recruited Jack H. Stimpfling from the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. In 1966, space contstraints at Deaconess Hospital forced relocation into two abandoned mom and pop grocery stores, The shelves served as racks for mouse cages and the checkout counters became lab benches. In 1967, with support from local contractor John L. McLaughlin, the McLaughlin Research Institute opened its doors. (Photo: Dr. Jack Stimpfling, Courtesy: McLaughlin Research Institute)

Eichwald returned to the University of Utah 1968 where he became Chairman of the Department of Pathology. After Eichwald's departure, Stimpfling was the sole scientist at the Institute making major contributions in immunology and immunogenetics. Stimpfling devoted his career to the identification and characterization of H2 recombinants, developing a panel of congenic strains with crossovers within the complex that were used by scientists worldwide during the golden age of immunobiology.

The Institute is supported by a number of scientists including Irv Weissman, David Baltimore and Montana native Leroy Hood, the later two current members of McLaughlin's Scientific Advisory Committee. In 1988, Stimpfling's retirement necessitated a major reorginization that through the efforts of Institute and Columbus Hospital staff, community leaders, the state legislature, and Montana's congressional delegation, a combination of state and federal funding was obtained in 1991 for construction of a new research laboratory. (Photo: Dr. Leroy Hood, courtesy Institute for Systems Biology)

Now retired, Eichwald continues daily work in his lab and is a valued friend and advisor to the McLaughlin Research Institute, as well as to his colleagues in Utah.

Today, MRI's research is built on its historical strength in mammalian genetics, and its transgenic mouse facility with both pronuclear and blastocyst microinjection capabilities. Genes have been ablated by Institute scientists using homologous recombination and numerous conventional transgenic lines have been produced.

1958 -- Integrated circuit invented.

1961 -- President John F. Kennedy expands U.S. Space Program

1969 -- Man walks on the moon.

An important benefit of the Apollo Lunar Program and other NASA programs is the ever-growing pipeline of technology that improves human and veterinary healthcare diagnostics and therapeutics.

1969 -- Victor McKusick publishes "Mendelian Inheritance in Man".

Victor McKusick, widely acknowledged as the father of medical genetics, spent his career studying the genetic basis of diseases and disorders with the belief that such an understanding could lead to new methods of diagnosis and treatment. He studied, identified, and mapped genes responsible for inherited conditions such as Marfan syndrome and dwarfism (specifically in Amish communities). In 1969, he proposed the idea of mapping the human genome, over 30 years before the Human Genome Project was established.

McKusick, a graduate of Johns Hopkins (M.D. 1946), spent his entire career there and founded the Division of Medical Genetics in 1957, the first research center and clinic of its kind. In 1969 he published the 1st edition of his book "Mendelian Inheritance of Man", one of the most comprehensive collections of inherited disease genes. In 2002, McKusick received the highest scientific honor in the U.S., the National Medal of Science.

1971 -- NASDAQ Stock Market founded.

Nasdaq, founded February 8, 1971, is now the largest U.S. electronic stock market. With approximately 3,300 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. NASDAQ is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media, biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical.

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1973 -- Recombinant DNA perfected.

1974 -- Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

John N. Erlenborn, the ranking Republican on the House Committee, was responsible for bringing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to a floor vote, and is one of the ERISA’s "Founding Fathers." Together with Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY), Senator Pete Williams (D-NJ) and Congressman John Dent (D-PA), Erlenborn crafted provisions and participated in negotiations that were instrumental to the enactment of ERISA which was - and remains - the single most important legislation governing employee benefit plans in the United States providing an important source of financial investment for the stock market. (Photos: Jacob Javits and Pete Williams courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office).

1975 -- Monoclonal antibodies produced.

In 1975, Georges Köhler and César Milstein, showed how monoclonal antibodies can be generated by isolating individual fused myeloma cells.

The 1984 Nobel Laureate in Medicine was awarded jointly to: Niels Jerne, Georges Köhler and César Milstein for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

1976 -- Genentech, founder of the biotechnology industry, established.

In 1976, Genentech was founded by venture capitalist Robert Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. In the early 1970s, Boyer and geneticist Stanley Cohen at Stanford University pioneered recombinant DNA technology. Excited by the breakthrough, Swanson called Boyer who agreed to give the young entrepreneur 10 minutes of his time. Swanson's enthusiasm for the technology resulted in a three hour meeting and at its conclusion, Genentech was born.

Within a few short years Swanson and Boyer invented a new industry - biotechnology. In 1980, Genentech issued its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and raised $35 million with an offering that jumped from $35 a share to a high of $88 after less than an hour on the market. The event was one of the largest stock run-ups ever, and that event set the stage for future biotechnolgy industry offerings.

Genentech was initially broadly focused in three areas including food processing, industrial chemicals, and human health care. In 1982, Eli Lilly & Co. which had acquired worldwide rights to Genenetch's recombinant human insulin (1978) received FDA approval to market the product -- the first biotechnology therapeutic to reach the marketplace.

Beginning in 1983, Genentech became solely focused on human therapeutics and diagnostics, and in 1985, Genentech received approval from FDA to market its first product, Protropin® (somatrem for injection) growth hormone for children with growth hormone deficiency — the first recombinant pharmaceutical product to be manufactured and marketed by a biotechnology company. In 1990, Genentech and Roche Holding Ltd. of Basel, Switzerland completed a $2.1 billion merger. Today, Genentech is among the world's leading biotech companies with multiple protein-based products on the market for serious or life-threatening medical conditions.

1977 -- First human gene cloned.

Walter Gilbert induced bacteria to synthesize insulin and interferon, and Frederick Sanger published the complete sequence of phage FX174. The 1980 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Frederick Sanger and Walter Gilbert for "for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids, and to Paul Berg for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA. (Photos: © The Nobel Foundation)

1980 -- U.S. Supreme Court ruled man-made organism patentable.

1980 -- Bayh-Dole Act provides for university technology transfer.

1990 -- Human Genome Project established.

The U.S. Human Genome Project was established -- a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project, originally planned to last 15 years, was expected to be completed by 2003 due to rapid technological advances.

1993 -- Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) founded.

Biotechnology Industry Organization is the world's largest organization to serve and represent the biotechnology industry. BIO's leadership and service-oriented guidance have helped advance the industry and bring the benefits of biotechnology to people everywhere.

1993 -- Kary B. Mullis awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1998 -- LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals founded.

LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals founded in Bozeman by Robert F. Bargatze, Ph.D., and John W. Jutila, Ph.D. from Montana State University. LigoCyte is focused on mucosal immunology to the discovery and development of therapeutic drugs and vaccines for the prevention of inflammatory and infectious diseases. LigoCyte’s world-class scientists and leading-edge technologies are focused on the clinical development of lead candidates to establish strategic relationships within the pharmaceutical industry.

1998 -- Montana Neuroscience Institute Foundation founded.

Montana Neuroscience Institute Foundation is a non-profit partnership between St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center and The University of Montana for the specific purpose of linking neuroscience research and patient care. The Institute was Conceived in 1997 by a group of collaborators that began planning an organization that would link basic research to patient care. Included in the planning were clinicians from the St. Patrick Hospital, faculty researchers from The University of Montana, and senior administrators from both institutions. Dr. Howard Chandler, a neurosurgeon, and Professors Richard Bridges and Diana Lurie at the University of Montana's Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences were instrumental in the Institute's early development.

In 1998, the Montana Neuroscience Institute Foundation officially became incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization. Through collaborations fostered by the Institute, experts in research and clinical medicine develop innovations in patient care to help those afflicted with diseases of the nervous system for the citizens of Montana and beyond.

2001 -- Human Genome Project draft sequence published.

2004 -- Montana Bioscience Alliance founded.

Montana Bioscience Alliance (MBA) is a non-profit association that serves as a hub for Montana’s biotechnology companies, entrepreneurs, laboratories, hospitals, clinics and universities to commercialize, grow and sustain globally competitive bioscience companies -- ultimately to create high-quality jobs and economic opportunity in Montana.

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Tell us about Montana's BioHistory. If you are aware of a notable event, person,
organization/company or accomplishment that we should include,
please e-mail: BioHistory@InfoResource.org