Will a Nobel Ever Be Awarded to Someone in Sports Medicine Or

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Will a Nobel Ever Be Awarded to Someone in Sports Medicine Or D R J D R J world to making a unique discovery. 43(3), Spring 2000, pp. 406-448. Which diseases in sports medicine Secondly, even if your abstract is might be caused by infection? It is worth noting that the “New Germ rejected from your society’s annual The number one candidate, in my Will a Nobel ever be awarded to Theory” does not pose a threat to the conference (as it was – see the MJA view, would have to be “chondral importance of public health, because article for evidence), it doesn’t mean degeneration” in the knee joint, of the ability for microorganisms you won’t end up winning a Nobel in particular. How many times do someone in sports medicine or to evolve rapidly. For example, Prize for the research. Thirdly, you you see a patient go in for a knee the HIV virus is an infection which can be a touch on the eccentric (mad) arthroscope for a meniscal tear, and is known to mutate according to side, as Robin Marshall obviously in which the surgeon also finds grade its environment. In Africa, where science? By Dr J was when he drank a helicobacter 1-2 chondral degeneration in the joint, unfortunately sexual practices are solution to give himself gastritis, and followed by a rapid deterioration after not generally very safe, HIV is far it may actually help you be a great the arthroscopy? A year later another more virulent, as it is usually given It is a time for great celebration that breakthrough in the field of antibiotics) just won the FE Johnson Memorial scientist. Fourthly, you might do well arthroscopy is performed and this ample opportunity to spread from we have just had two Australian would rank as highly as any of the Fellowship of the NSW Sporting to think that infection could have time the patient has grade 4 chondral victim to victim, even if the victims medical doctors awarded the Nobel Nobel prizes awarded for medicine. Injuries Committee for 2005, whereas an undiscovered role in a common damage (that is, frank osteoarthritis) die relatively quickly of the disease. Prize for medicine and physiology Alexander Fleming is credited with Justin Paoloni has already won the condition where the ruling view is and a disability that will last a lifetime. The strains of HIV which are seen in (Robin Warren and Barry Marshall). discovering that the mould penicillium David Garlick Memorial Scholarship that is has no role. Of course, the ruling dogma is that Western countries have, by contrast, Their discovery was that the could inhibit the growth of bacteria, but for this work. the “early” chondral damage seen One of my all-time favourite articles become far milder, presumably due bacterium Helicobacter pylori is in the Australian Sir Howard Florey (who in the first arthroscopy constituted There was an IOC Olympic Prize I have ever read was called “A New to the widespread institution of safe fact the major cause of stomach has an institute named after him in a joint “weakness” that after further in sports science and medicine Germ Theory” written by Judith sex practices. Because there is less ulcers which can now be successfully Melbourne) is considered to have been “mechanical loading” deteriorated which was awarded every two years Hooper and published in The Atlantic opportunity for the virus to spread treated with antibiotics. Those of us most responsible for introducing the to frank arthritis. Yes, I believe that between 1996 and 2002, but not Monthly in February 1999. This from patient to patient, it ‘evolves’ in sports medicine should greet this antibiotic penicillin to clinical practice. early wear of the knee joint can later awarded in 2004 because of the article focused on the theories of to become more benign, as it would award with a similar level of elation become advanced wear, but in the Warren and Marshall deserve the withdrawal of sponsorship from the Greg Cochran and Paul Ewald, who be disadvantageous to kill its hosts that we felt, for example, when Cathy average patient this normally takes highest of our praises for making a Pfizer company. This award, if it is believe (via Darwinian theory) that before there was a chance to spread. Freeman won the 400 m at the Sydney 20-30 years. How come it can happen discovery which vastly improves a resurrected, may possibly be seen any common medical condition which Olympics. Admittedly the Freeman If, for example, the proponents of to some poor victims in under 12 common disease in clinical medicine, as the “Nobel” equivalent in sports has been around for generations gold might have warranted more the “New Germ Theory” are right months when they don’t run a single for being prepared to challenge science and medicine. Yet it would but which substantially reduces instantaneous joy in that the ‘event’ about Type-II diabetes, that it might step due to the fact that they have existing dogma about the causation only be an equivalent for as long as human fitness should be considered lasted less than a minute but there are involve an infectious agent, then it a knee effusion for the entire year? of peptic ulcer and, locally, for it was considered impossible for a an infectious disease until proven more than one hundred Australian would still be important to push the In my mind, the likely culprit is an conducting all of their work within sports medicine researcher actually to otherwise. For example, not only Olympic gold medallists yet only a public health message about exercise infectious agent and, sadly, the likely Australia (in the city of Perth). You win a real Nobel Prize. do they believe that peptic ulcer is dozen Australian Nobel Prize winners. and good nutrition. In a society source of entry to the joint is the should take any chance you get to caused by an infectious agent, they Those small-minded folk who think where there is a high population of initial knee arthroscopy itself. The only Australian Nobel Prize winners read about the story of Warren and assert that cardiovascular disease that I have tenuous grip on reality overweight and obese people, if an in medicine and physiology are: Marshall, including the free text in the must be too, along with diabetes, OK, some of you sceptics out there would probably suggest to me that infectious agent can cause diabetes Christmas edition of the Med J Aust at rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s who may actually be medicos who • Warren and Marshall in 2005 for sports medicine experts should stick in these people, from an evolutionary disease and many cancers, etc. have treated patients with chronic their discovery of Helicobacter http://www.mja.com.au/public/ to the task of proving to the Australian perspective it can afford to be a far effusion post-arthroscopy may be able pylori, issues/183_11_051205/van11000_ Government that we actually exist as a If you consider this concept to nastier agent, as the potential pool of fm.html distinct area of medicine before anyone to tell me that: • Peter Doherty (along with Rolf be preposterous, remember that victims is huge (and from the agent’s starts worrying about winning the Zinkernagel, a Swiss working With respect to the field of sports mainstream gastroenterologists have viewpoint it will not affect its spread 1. Whenever you have sent a knee Nobel prize for a sports medicine study. in Australia) in 1996 for their medicine, a recent Nobel award only accepted in the last decade that if a few victims die of the disease). In effusion in this scenario off for a Even though we tend to equate sports discoveries in immunology, has major relevance (Paul Lauterbur Helicobacter pylori causes peptic a society (which unfortunately is now culture it has always come back medicine with sports injuries, if we start and Peter Mansfield in 2003 for the ulcers. There is some evidence that a hypothetical one) where everyone negative AND • John Eccles (along with Hodgkin to think along the sports and exercise various chlamydia organisms are exercised regularly and ate moderate discovery of magnetic resonance 2. If you have ever happened to treat and Huxley of the UK) in 1963 for medicine paradigm, perhaps it won’t associated with cardiovascular disease, amounts of food, if you were a imaging). In 1998 three Americans a patient in this scenario with a his discoveries regarding nerve be long before we see an exercise although this has not yet been proven diabetes-causing virus you would (Furchgott, Ignaro and Murad) shared standard antibiotic (eg, Amoxil) cells, medicine Nobel laureate. Researchers to nearly the same degree as the quickly mutate to a more benign the Nobel Prize for medicine for their it hasn’t helped with the knee such as Jeremy Morris, Ralph helicobacter/peptic ulcer connection. form. It would be very costly to kill • Frank Macfarlane Burnett (along discoveries with respect to the role effusion. Paffenbarger and Stephen Blair must with Peter Medawar) in 1960 for his of nitric oxide in the cardiovascular For a summary of of the Atlantic your victims due to the difficulty in surely be close to that elusive Nobel http://www. This is where a read of the story of discoveries in immunology, and system. Their work has probably article, please refer to: finding replacement victims (given for their work proving that exercise can injuryupdate.com.au/forum/ Marshall and Warren is extremely inspired that of George Murrell and that the virus might need a high-fat • Howard Florey (along with Fleming prevent heart disease and cancer.
Recommended publications
  • 書 名 等 発行年 出版社 受賞年 備考 N1 Ueber Das Zustandekommen Der
    書 名 等 発行年 出版社 受賞年 備考 Ueber das Zustandekommen der Diphtherie-immunitat und der Tetanus-Immunitat bei thieren / Emil Adolf N1 1890 Georg thieme 1901 von Behring N2 Diphtherie und tetanus immunitaet / Emil Adolf von Behring und Kitasato 19-- [Akitomo Matsuki] 1901 Malarial fever its cause, prevention and treatment containing full details for the use of travellers, University press of N3 1902 1902 sportsmen, soldiers, and residents in malarious places / by Ronald Ross liverpool Ueber die Anwendung von concentrirten chemischen Lichtstrahlen in der Medicin / von Prof. Dr. Niels N4 1899 F.C.W.Vogel 1903 Ryberg Finsen Mit 4 Abbildungen und 2 Tafeln Twenty-five years of objective study of the higher nervous activity (behaviour) of animals / Ivan N5 Petrovitch Pavlov ; translated and edited by W. Horsley Gantt ; with the collaboration of G. Volborth ; and c1928 International Publishing 1904 an introduction by Walter B. Cannon Conditioned reflexes : an investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex / by Ivan Oxford University N6 1927 1904 Petrovitch Pavlov ; translated and edited by G.V. Anrep Press N7 Die Ätiologie und die Bekämpfung der Tuberkulose / Robert Koch ; eingeleitet von M. Kirchner 1912 J.A.Barth 1905 N8 Neue Darstellung vom histologischen Bau des Centralnervensystems / von Santiago Ramón y Cajal 1893 Veit 1906 Traité des fiévres palustres : avec la description des microbes du paludisme / par Charles Louis Alphonse N9 1884 Octave Doin 1907 Laveran N10 Embryologie des Scorpions / von Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov 1870 Wilhelm Engelmann 1908 Immunität bei Infektionskrankheiten / Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov ; einzig autorisierte übersetzung von Julius N11 1902 Gustav Fischer 1908 Meyer Die experimentelle Chemotherapie der Spirillosen : Syphilis, Rückfallfieber, Hühnerspirillose, Frambösie / N12 1910 J.Springer 1908 von Paul Ehrlich und S.
    [Show full text]
  • Fleming Vs. Florey: It All Comes Down to the Mold Kristin Hess La Salle University
    The Histories Volume 2 | Issue 1 Article 3 Fleming vs. Florey: It All Comes Down to the Mold Kristin Hess La Salle University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/the_histories Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Hess, Kristin () "Fleming vs. Florey: It All Comes Down to the Mold," The Histories: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/the_histories/vol2/iss1/3 This Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Scholarship at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The iH stories by an authorized editor of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Histories, Vol 2, No. 1 Page 3 Fleming vs. Florey: It All Comes Down to the Mold Kristen Hess Without penicillin, the world as it is known today would not exist. Simple infections, earaches, menial operations, and diseases, like syphilis and pneumonia, would possibly all end fatally, shortening the life expectancy of the population, affecting everything from family-size and marriage to retirement plans and insurance policies. So how did this “wonder drug” come into existence and who is behind the development of penicillin? The majority of the population has heard the “Eureka!” story of Alexander Fleming and his famous petri dish with the unusual mold growth, Penicillium notatum. Very few realize that there are not only different variations of the Fleming discovery but that there are also other people who were vitally important to the development of penicillin as an effective drug.
    [Show full text]
  • A Scientist's Life for Me
    NATURE|Vol 455|16 October 2008 AUTUMN BOOKS OPINION A scientist’s life for me Forty years after the publication of James Watson’s The Double Helix, Georgina Ferry asks why the life stories of so few scientists make it into the bookshops. In 1968 Peter Medawar, Nobel prizewinner and author of many witty reflections on sci- ence and its practitioners, consented to write a preface to Ronald Clark’s biography of the influential British biologist J. B. S. Haldane. Imagine Clark’s consternation when he read its opening line: “The lives of academics, considered as Lives, almost always make dull reading.” Later, Medawar recycled the opening paragraph for an essay in his col- lection Pluto’s Republic (1982), claiming further that scientists’ lives, unlike those of “artists and men of letters”, were “not a source of cultural insight”. James Watson’s The Double Helix, a book that broke the mould of scientific life-writing, also appeared in 1968. It provided abundant ‘cultural insight’ into the combination of good contacts, brilliance, luck, hard work and ruth- less competitiveness that brought to light the DNA structure. It was panned by many of Watson’s contemporaries — if Francis Crick had got his way, the book would never have been published. Yet in his own memoir What modern laboratory Mad Pursuit (1988), Crick later admitted that life? Scientific life-writing is now publishers. Most people have he was wrong: “I now appreciate how skilful a small and shrinking enterprise. Publishers heard of very few scientists, so those that they Jim was, not only in making the book read agree that the market for scholarly biography do recognize — Isaac Newton, Charles Dar- like a detective story, but also by managing to has suffered from the onslaught of celebrity win and Albert Einstein — seem the safest bets.
    [Show full text]
  • Howard-Florey-Maker
    _ ....II""lle,st'Ol)' of "Ie lin ~t tlt:Mc 'c y~ successfullY to rmat. pea WIth ~ IJ&. iBfoctiOus'diseases - begins-with &bit Qf IuC AI~ PI tIlil1g, a .S 9itisb ~lientlst.notlcEid In t$!B ftJal mould.,ad l:!"eveAted growth of ~ qerms {bacterial 1., lils ~ the ~In plot 0 me story 1'I0J0IYl1l$ Sr ~pvay Qf penidll 10 ~ years la1er by arl·Aus\ 1;1 Sdetl bam t'!undred s R Y~'89D this year, H'owar~ I: fIotey and h d ~ team's ~ systttma!JQ, detalla wotk "'~ Jl 11_ fJTIed petlicilin from an 53 i[l~1Jlg o~ , nto-a life saver. ' Emma ,au fY 50 IJSOO to tm e teliladll', at t'l'wiMlstral r:Ja • U verslty's JOOf\ CtJrti[l Scbool of Moolaal Rasecll'eh (HQw FJor~ ptayed 8 c roI'a II'l the-est)bllshmflnt at itI& School god ~!lr'S1ty t In h 11M), TIll> !/O"'"_....... ot l!1te.dJ1l1II d1Haie'&."4ICh .. po.~a~1I ~ Erl'1lil"1a's.lile w~!i8Vedby penicillin irllll IIlIaod .. 1111 IIihi' 1111\1:_ tva ~ntil>iol~; 8uI1hft;e phDl Cl(a pauilftl n Get'rJ1art refiJg g mp. tt WQf1d War II. ,1<42 -"ow ho"; b.d thlnP COIH~. Pft_ 1 lind Imagine hO\ she fett any years later. 2 ~ '1M .III~ !It II YOUl1'llll1J1 willi _I J."..,tllltw...... OlIl1dltlicln ,..,_by the tt.iituI t cooid~ blITlping iHlo mtJY wh fa lIay ..fI...boiIJg IIlven penldll" {JItIiJID 3" _ hIld ~ woriled- the man who made tile shown .~"in.IH",p"'-.ntIIIf tbll JIIII!Ilt dllly g~pIy mpooicillin ~bte.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Howard Florey - Biography
    Sir Howard Florey - Biography Sir Howard Florey – Biography The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Sir Howard Walter Florey was 1945 born on September 24, 1898, at Presentation Speech Adelaide, South Australia, the son Educational of Joseph and Bertha Mary Florey. His early education was at St. Sir Alexander Fleming Peter's Collegiate School, Adelaide, Biography Nobel Lecture following which he went on to Banquet Speech Adelaide University where he Documentary graduated M.B., B.S. in 1921. He Other Resources was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, Ernst B. Chain leading to the degrees of B.Sc. and Biography M.A. (1924). He then went to Nobel Lecture Cambridge as a John Lucas Walker Banquet Speech Student. In 1925 he visited the United States on a Rockefeller Other Resources Travelling Fellowship for a year, returning in 1926 to a Fellowship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, receiving Sir Howard Florey here his Ph.D. in 1927. He also held at this time the Freedom Biography Research Fellowship at the London Hospital. In 1927 he was Nobel Lecture appointed Huddersfield Lecturer in Special Pathology at Banquet Speech Cambridge. In 1931 he succeeded to the Joseph Hunter Chair of Pathology at the University of Sheffield. 1944 1946 Leaving Sheffield in 1935 he became Professor of Pathology and a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He was made an The 1945 Prize in: Physics Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in Chemistry 1946 and an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in Physiology or Medicine 1952. In 1962 he was made Provost of The Queen's College, Literature Oxford.
    [Show full text]
  • UNESCO Kalinga Prize Winner – 1985 Sir Peter Brian Medawar Nobel Laureate
    Glossary on Kalinga Prize Laureates UNESCO Kalinga Prize Winner – 1985 Sir Peter Brian Medawar Nobel Laureate An Eminent British Scientist of Lebanese Origin, A Biologist and Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine – 1960 [Born : February 28, 1915, Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Died : October 2, 1987 (aged 72) London, United Kingdom] Today the world Changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in . I suppose we all realize the degree to which fear and resentment of what is new is really a lament for the memories of our childhood. ...Peter Medawar I can not give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of a conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not. …Peter Medawar If Politics is the art of the Possible, research is surely the art of the soluble. Both are immensely Practical minded affairs . ...Peter Medawar 1 Glossary on Kalinga Prize Laureates Peter Medawar A Brief Biographical Sketch Born : February 28, 1915 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Died : October 2, 1987 (aged 72) London, United Kingdom Notable Prizes : Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1960), Kalinga Prize, 1985 Sir Peter Brian Medawar (February 28, 1915 – acquired immunological tolerance. This work was October 2, 1987) was a Briazilian – born British used in dealing with skin grafts required after burns. scientist best known for his work on how the immune Medawar’s work resulted in a shift of emphasis in system rejects or accepts tissue transplants.
    [Show full text]
  • Microorganisms: Friend and Foe : MCQ for VIII: Biology 1.The Yeast
    Microorganisms: Friend and Foe : MCQ for VIII: Biology 1.The yeast multiply by a process called (a) Binary fission (b) Budding (c) Spore formation (d) None of the above 2.The example of protozoan is (a) Penicillium (b) Blue green algae (c) Amoeba (d) Bacillus 3.The most common carrier of communicable diseases is (a) Ant (b) Housefly (c) Dragonfly (d) Spider 4.The following is an antibiotics (a) Alcohol (b) Yeast (c) Sodium bicarbonate (d) Streptomycin 5.Yeast produces alcohol and carbon dioxide by a process called (a) Evaporation (b) Respiration (c) Fermentation (d) Digestion 6.The algae commonly used as fertilizers are called (a) Staphylococcus (b) Diatoms (c) Blue green algae (d) None of the above 7.Cholera is caused by (a) Bacteria (b) Virus (c) Protozoa (d) Fungi 8.Plant disease citrus canker is caused by (a) Virus (b) Fungi (c) Bacteria (d) None of these 9.The bread dough rises because of (a) Kneading (b) Heat (c) Grinding (d) Growth of yeast cells 10.Carrier of dengue virus is (a) House fly (b) Dragon fly (c) Female Aedes Mosquito (d) Butterfly 11. Yeast is used in the production of (a) Sugar (b) Alcohol (c) Hydrochloric acid (d) Oxygen 12. The vaccine for smallpox was discovered by (a) Robert Koch (b) Alexander Fleming (c) Sir Ronald Ross (d) Edward Jenner 13.Chickenpox is caused by (a) Virus (b) Fungi (c) Protozoa (d) Bacteria 14.The bacterium which promote the formation of curd (a) Rhizobium (b) Spirogyra (c) Breadmould (d) Lactobacillus 15.Plasmodium is a human parasite which causes (a) dysentery (b) Sleeping sickness (c) Malaria
    [Show full text]
  • Nobel Prizes in Physiology Or Medicine with an Emphasis on Bacteriology
    J Med Bacteriol. Vol. 8, No. 3, 4 (2019): pp.49-57 jmb.tums.ac.ir Journal of Medical Bacteriology Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine with an Emphasis on Bacteriology 1 1 2 Hamid Hakimi , Ebrahim Rezazadeh Zarandi , Siavash Assar , Omid Rezahosseini 3, Sepideh Assar 4, Roya Sadr-Mohammadi 5, Sahar Assar 6, Shokrollah Assar 7* 1 Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. 2 Department of Anesthesiology, Medical School, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. 3 Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 4 Department of Pathology, Dental School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 5 Dental School, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. 6 Dental School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 7 Department of Microbiology and Immunology of Infectious Diseases Research Center, Research Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article type: Background: Knowledge is an ocean without bound or shore, the seeker of knowledge is (like) the Review Article diver in those seas. Even if his life is a thousand years, he will never stop searching. This is the result Article history: of reflection in the book of development. Human beings are free and, to some extent, have the right to Received: 02 Feb 2019 choose, on the other hand, they are spiritually oriented and innovative, and for this reason, the new Revised: 28 Mar 2019 discovery and creativity are felt. This characteristic, which is in the nature of human beings, can be a Accepted: 06 May 2019 motive for the revision of life and its tools and products.
    [Show full text]
  • Heroes and Heroines of Drug Discovery
    Heroes and Heroines of Drug Discovery Talking Science Lecture The Rockefeller University January 9, 2016 Mary Jeanne Kreek Mary Jeanne Kreek (b. February 9, 1937) • Recruited by a Rockefeller University researcher, Vincent P. Dole, to assess addiction, with the focus of seeing addiction as an illness, not a choice • Research focused on the synthetic drug methadone, which she found relieved heroin cravings and prevented withdrawal symptoms • Helped get methadone approved as a long term opiate addiction therapy in 1973 • Transformed our understanding of addiction from a personal shortcoming to a medical disease Alexander Fleming Alexander Fleming (August 6, 1881 – March 11, 1955) • 1928 – observed that mold accidentally developed on a staphylococcus culture plate which had created a bacteria-free circle around itself • Further experimentation found that this mold, even when diluted 800 times, prevented the growth of staphylococci • He would name it Penicillin • 1945 – won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Charles L. Sawyers Charles L. Sawyers (b. 1959) • Interested in the Philadelphia Chromosome, a genetic aberration where 2 chromosomes swap segments, enabling white blood cells to grow without restraint and causing chronic myeloid leukemia • Focused on determining what turns cancer cells “on” or “off” • Found the specific oncogenes that control a cancer cell and shut them off – Enabled patients to receive a treatment targeted specifically for their cancer, rather than a general treatment for all kinds of cancer • 2013 – won the Breakthrough
    [Show full text]
  • Penicillin: World War II Infections and Howard Florey
    In Focus Penicillin: World War II infections and Howard Florey The results were dramatic – the control mice rapidly succumbed, while all of the treated mice survived. These results attracted great interest from the scientific and military communities because, if Ian Gust replicated in humans, the drug had the potential to influence the Department of Microbiology and outcome of WWII. Immunology University of Melbourne It took Florey and 16 colleagues several months to produce suffi- Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia Tel: +61 3 8344 3963 cient material to treat a handful of patients. The team worked under Fax: +61 3 8344 6552 fi fi Email: [email protected] dif cult circumstances with a lack of funding and equipment; at rst penicillin was made using old dairy equipment. Hospital bedpans were later used to grow the mould and the liquid containing fi Howard Florey is celebrated for his major contributions to penicillin drained from beneath the growing mould and ltered the large-scale production of the fungal product, penicillin, through parachute silk. during World War II (WWII), leading to life-saving outcomes The first patient they treated was a policeman, in whom an infected for many more than those with war wounds. scratch had developed into a life threatening infection. He was given Howard Florey was born in South Australia in 1898. After studying penicillin, and within a day began to recover. Unfortunately Florey’s medicine at the University of Adelaide he was awarded a Rhodes team only had sufficient drug for 5 days of treatment and when Scholarship to work in Oxford under Sir Charles Sherrington.
    [Show full text]
  • Illustrations from the Wellcome Institute Library the Chain Papers*
    Medical History, 1983, 27:434-435 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE WELLCOME INSTITUTE LIBRARY THE CHAIN PAPERS* THE three men who shared the Nobel Prize in October 1945 for their work on penicillin could scarcely have differed more in their backgrounds and characters. Fleming was sixty-four years old by then; the son of a Scottish farmer, he was a retiring man, not given to conversation. By contrast, Florey, then aged forty-seven, was the son of a wealthy Australian boot and shoe manufacturer; aggressively ambitious, his achievements and intellect were later to secure him the Presidency of the Royal Society. Then there was Chain - a mere thirty-nine years old - a Jewish refugee of Russian origin, who still had major work on penicillin ahead of him; his ambition was mixed with an independence and volubility that was to lead him into conflict with the scientific/medical establishment. Fleming has been the subject of many biographies, mostly hagiographical. Florey's role in the penicillin story was recently reassessed in Gwyn Macfarlane's excellent Howard Florey. The making ofa great scientist (Oxford University Press, 1979). Sir Ernst Boris Chain died in 1979, and his biography is being written by Ronald W. Clark. This, together with future research on Chain's papers, will enable a fuller assessment to be made of the role and character of the youngest of the three scientists. The Chain papers, recently given by Lady Chain to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre, form an extensive collection of some sixty-nine boxes, comprising material from Chain's personal and professional life.
    [Show full text]
  • Alexander Fleming and the Discovery of Penicillin
    The miraculous mold… Fleming’s Life Saving Discovery lexander Fleming is His famous discovery happened credited with the on the day that Fleming Adiscovery of penicillin; perhaps returned to his laboratory the greatest achievement in having spent August on holiday medicine in the 20th Century. with his family. Before leaving, By Jay Hardy, CLS, SM (NRCM) he had stacked all his cultures Having grown up in Scotland, of staphylococci on a bench in a Fleming moved to London corner of his laboratory. On Jay Hardy is the founder and where he attended medical returning, Fleming noticed that president of Hardy Diagnostics. school. After serving his one culture was contaminated He began his career in country as a medic in World with a fungus, and that the microbiology as a Medical Technologist in Santa Barbara, War I, he returned to London colonies of staphylococci that California. where he began his career as a had immediately surrounded it In 1980, he began manufacturing bacteriologist. There he began had been destroyed, whereas culture media for the local his search for more effective other colonies farther away hospitals. Today, Hardy antimicrobial agents. Having were normal. Diagnostics is the third largest culture media manufacturer in the witnessed the death of many United States. wounded soldiers in the war, he noticed that in many cases the To ensure rapid and reliable turn around time, Hardy Diagnostics use of harsh antiseptics did maintains seven distribution more harm than good. centers, and produces over 3,500 products used in clinical and industrial microbiology By 1928, Fleming was laboratories throughout the world.
    [Show full text]