Human uses of living things of genes. Basic biological research has often been done with plants. In genetics, the breeding of pea plants allowed Gregor Mendel to derive the basic laws governing inheritance, and examination of chromosomes in maize allowed Barbara McClintock to demonstrate their connection to inherited traits. The plant "Arabidopsis thaliana" is used in laboratories as a model organism to understand how genes control the growth and development of plant structures. Space stations or space colonies may one day rely on plants for life support. Vaccines have been made using animals since their discovery by Edward Jenner in the 18th century. He noted
Catholic Church and health care them clergymen) made a number of important discoveries which aided the development of modern science and medicine. Saint Albert the Great (1206–1280) was a pioneer of biological field research; Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) helped revive knowledge of ancient Greek medicine, Renaissance popes were often patrons of the study of anatomy, and Catholic artists such as Michelangelo advanced knowledge of the field through sketching cadavers. The Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602 – 1680) first proposed that living beings enter and exist in the blood (a precursor of germ theory). The Augustinian Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) developed theories on genetics for the first time. As