Milestones in Biotechnology 1970 Hamilton Smith, at Johns Hopkins Medical School, isolates the first restriction enzyme 1972 Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer combine their efforts to create recombinant DNA 1976 Herbert Boyer cofounds Genentech 1978 Somatostatin is the first human protein made using recombinant technologyMilestones in Biotechnology 1970 Hamilton Smith, at Johns Hopkins Medical School, isolates the first restriction enzyme. 1972 Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer combine their efforts to create recombinant DNA. 1976 Herbert Boyer cofounds Genentech. 1978 Somatostatin is the first human protein made using recombinant technology