The building (i.e., polymerization manufacture) of a known sequence of nucleotides into a chain called an oligonucleotide (of which genes are made) or DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Invented by Har Goribind Khorana and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968, this process enables scientists to create genes or gene fragments for use in research. In 1973, Robert Bruce Merrifield of Rockefeller University developed a means to partially automate the oligonucleotide assembly process. This led to automated machines that can now rapidly manufacture a gene fragment, gene, or DNA probe.