Sample of penicillin mould presented by Alexander Fleming to Douglas Macleod in 1935
The discovery of penicillin was one of the most important scientific discoveries in the history of medicine. Ancient societies used moulds to treat infections and in the following centuries many people observed the inhibition of bacterial growth by moulds. While working at St Mary's Hospital in London in 1928, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming was the first to experimentally demonstrate that a Penicillium mould secretes an antibacterial substance, which he named "penicillin". The mould was found to be a variant of Penicillium notatum (now called Penicillium rubens), a contaminant of a bacterial culture in his laboratory. The work on penicillin at St Mary's ended in 1929.
In 1939, a team of scientists at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford, led by Howard Florey that included Edward Abraham, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley and Margaret Jennings, began researching penicillin. They devised a method for cultivating the mould, as well as extracting, purifying and storing penicillin from it. They created an assay for measuring its purity. They carried out experiments with animals to determine penicillin's safety and effectiveness before conducting clinical trials and field tests. They derived its chemical formula and determined how it works. The private sector and the United States Department of Agriculture located and produced new strains and developed mass production techniques. Penicillin became an important part of the Allied war effort in the Second World War, saving the lives of thousands of soldiers. Fleming, Florey and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for its discovery and development.
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The discoveryofpenicillin was one of the most important scientific discoveries in the history of medicine. Ancient societies used moulds to treat infections...
history ofpenicillin follows observations and discoveriesof evidence of antibiotic activity of the mould Penicillium that led to the development of penicillins...
Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from Penicillium moulds, principally P. chrysogenum and P. rubens....
antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of what was later named benzylpenicillin (or penicillin G) from the mould Penicillium...
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Due to the discoveryofpenicillin by Alexander Fleming, and the efforts of Florey and Chain in 1938, large-scale, pharmaceutical production of antibiotics...
Phenoxymethylpenicillin, also known as penicillin V (PcV) and penicillin VK, is an antibiotic useful for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. Specifically...
the discoveryofpenicillin from this species Alexander Fleming shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945. The original penicillin-producing...
Golden Age of Radio, the rise of trade unions, the development of transatlantic flight and the discoveryofpenicillin during their formative years. From...
snake venom and the development of various antivenins. His work on molds was a precursor to the formal discoveryofpenicillin and resulted in compounds which...
Bell's invention of the first practical telephone, John Logie Baird's invention of television, Alexander Fleming's discoveryofpenicillin and insulin. The...
revived Florey's research in penicillin. In 1939, coinciding with the start of World War II, Dubos had reported the discoveryof the first naturally derived...
deployment coincided with the discoveryofpenicillin. In the 1970s, Robert Austrian championed the manufacture and distribution of a 14-valent pneumococcal...
Amongst the victims of this epidemic was Agathe Whitehead. An antitoxin for scarlet fever was developed in 1924. The discoveryofpenicillin and its subsequent...
led to the discoveryof drugs with other pharmacological properties, such as immunosuppressants like Cyclosporin A. The discoveryofpenicillin was a serendipitous...
properties and then extract the active ingredient started with the discoveryofpenicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Since that time, many potential antibiotics...
development ofpenicillin. Although Fleming received most of the credit for the discoveryofpenicillin, it was Florey and his team at the University of Oxford...
and glucose oxidase. The discoveryofpenicillin ushered in a new age of antibiotics derived from microorganisms. Penicillin is an antibiotic isolated...
biochemist and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin. Chain was born in Berlin, the son of Margarete (née Eisner)...
techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances", Howard Florey who shared the 1945 Nobel prize "for the discoveryofpenicillin and its...
Bédoyère G (2005). The discoveryofpenicillin. London: Evans. ISBN 978-0-237-52739-6. Hartung EF (September 1954). "History of the use of colchicum and related...
and issued its first major report in 1936. This was before the discoveryofpenicillin as a safe and effective treatment for syphilis. The study was not...
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eradication of many infectious diseases, as well as opening the avenue of biological genetic engineering. Scientific discoveries, such as the theory of relativity...
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