HISTORY OF MICROBIOLOGY (PART 3)

The combined efforts of many scientists and most importantly Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch established the Germ theory of disease. The idea that invisible microorganisms are the cause of disease is called germ theory.

Lord Joseph Lister (1827-1912): A famous English surgeon is popularly known “Father of antiseptic surgery” He concluded that sepsis or wound infection may be due to microbial growth derived from the atmosphere.

Joseph Lister was the first to introduce aseptic techniques for control of microbes by the use of physical and chemical agents which are still in use today.

He developed a system of antiseptic surgery designed to prevent microorganisms from entering wounds by the application of phenol on surgical dressings and at times it was sprayed over the surgical areas.

He also devised a method to destroy microorganisms in the operation theatre by spraying a fine mist of carbolic acid into the air.

John Tyndall (1820–1893): An English physicist conducted experiments in an aseptically designed box to prove that dust indeed carried the germs. He demonstrated that if no dust was present, sterile broth remained free of microbial growth for indefinite period even if it was directly exposed to air.

He discovered highly resistant bacterial structure, later known as endospore.

Prolonged boiling or intermittent heating was necessary to kill these spores, to make the infusion completely sterilized, a process known as Tyndallisation.

Richard petri (1887): Koch’s assistant designed a special plate to hold solid culture media which is referred as ‘petri plate’. this plate has great significance in microbiology.

Fanne Eilshemius (1850 – 1934): Koch’s assistant first proposed the use of agar in culture media. Agar is better than gelatin because of its higher melting point (96^oc) and solidifying (40^oc) points.

Edward Jenner (1749-1823): English physician who was the first scientist who prevent small pox by the technique vaccination. He first discovered the technique vaccination.

Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915): In 1904 found that the dye Trypan Red was active against the trypanosome that causes African sleeping sickness and could be used therapeutically. This dye with antimicrobial activity was referred to as a ‘magic bullet’.

He discovered the treatment of syphilis by using arsenic (Arsphenamine). He studied the toxins and antitoxins in quantitative terms and laid foundation of biological standardization.

He also invented the precursor technique to gram staining bacteria.

Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955): Scottish physician and bacteriologist. Observed bacterial staphylococci colonies disappearing on plates contaminated with mold. Fleming extracted the compound from the mold responsible for destruction of the bacterial colonies. The product of the mold was named penicillin, after the Penicillium mold from which it was derived. He was the first scientist who discovered words first antibiotic substance benzyl penicillin (Penicillin G) from the mould penicillium notatum in 1928 that destroy many pathogenic bacteria and receive Nobel Prize in 1954.

Waksman: Discovered another antibiotic, streptomycin produced by two strains of actinomycete, Streptomyces griseus in 1944. Waksman received the noble prize in 1952 for his discovery of Streptomycin used in the treatment of tuberculosis, a bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosi.

Dr. Paul R. Burkholder (1947): Identified the microorganism that produced antibiotics, such as chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin) from Streptomyces venezuelae.

Dr. B.M. Dugger (1948): Identified the microorganism that produced antibiotics, such as Aureomycin from S. aureofaciens

Finlay(1950): Terramycin from S. rimosus.

THE MODERN ERA:- Following are the Nobel laureates in modern era with their discoveries.

YEAR	SCIENTIST	DISCOVERIES
1901	Von Behring	Diphtheria antitoxin
1902	Ronald Ross	Transmission of malaria
1905	Robert Koch	Research on tuberculosis
1908	Mechinkoff	Work on immunity & Phagocytosis
1945	Alexander Fleming	Penicillin
1962	Watson, Crick	Structure of DNA
1968	H.Khorans, Holley	Genetic code
1976	B.S Blumberg	Antigen imp in diagnosing serum hepatitis
2002	Malcom .k Brenner	Genetic regulation of organ development
2008	Harald zur Hausen	HP virus cause cervical cancer, Hiv virus
2011	Hoffman, Steinman	Role of dendritic cell in adaptive immunity
2017	Frank, Henderson	Developed cryo-electron microscopy