Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Author: Was born on 06 aug 1881. Died on 11 mar 1955, at 73 years old. Country: Biography: Biography Alexander Fleming Sir Fleming published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. His best-known achievements are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. Alexander Fleming Biography - Alexander Fleming Childhood - Alexander Fleming Profile Died on: 11 March 1955 Alexander Fleming was a Scottish pharmacologist and biologist who also published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. However, everyone knows him because of the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in the year 1922. He was the one who also discovered the antibiotic substance penicillin, back in the year 1928. Read more about his biography, in the following paragraphs.

Childhood Alexander Fleming was born on 6 August 1881 at Lochfield farm near Darvel in East Ayrshire, Scotland. His father was Hugh Fleming; Alexander was the third of the four children from his father's second marriage to Grace Sterling Morton. Hugh Fleming, Alexander's father had four children from his first marriage. When he married Grace, he was 59 years old and subsequently died when Alexander was just seven years old. Initially, Fleming went to Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School and then on to Kilmamock Academy for a couple of years. He started to work at a shipping office where he worked for four years. He also went on to inherit some money from his uncle John Fleming. He had an elder brother Tom, who was a physician and he was the one who suggested Alexander to follow in his footsteps. It was then in 1901 that Alexander enrolled himself at the St. Mary's Hospital, London and qualified for the school with distinction in 1906. Early Career Since he had very good marks, he had the option to become a surgeon.

But, as luck would have it, since he was a member of the rifle club, the captain of the club wanted to retain Fleming in the club and hence, he suggested that Fleming join the research department at St. Mary's. There he took up the job of an assistant bacteriologist to Sir Almroth Wright, who himself was a pioneer in vaccine therapy and immunology. Alexander went on to gain the M.B and the B.Sc. with a Gold Medal in the year 1908. Subsequently, he started to work as a lecturer at St. Mary's until the year 1914. Fleming also had the chance to serve his country during the World War I as a captain in the Army Medical Corps. Not only he, but many of his colleagues worked in the makeshift hospitals that were opened in the battlefields at the Western Front in France. However, in the year 1918, he returned to St. Mary's Church where he was elected as a Professor of Bacteriology in 1928. Professional Career When the World War I ended, Fleming started searching for an anti-bacterial agent, because he had witnessed the death of so many soldiers from septic and infectious wounds.

In an article that he wrote for the medical journal ‘The Lancet’ during World War I, Fleming described an experiment that he had done. In the article, he clearly explained why antiseptics were killing more soldiers than the infections themselves. He also mentioned that though antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter some anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent and the antiseptics themselves. These reports of Alexander Fleming were also backed up by Sir Almroth Wright but inspite of this most of the army physicians continued the use of antiseptics even in the cases where the use of these antiseptics worsened the physical condition of the patient in question. Alexander Fleming did not quite envision the discovery of the antibiotic penicillin, rather it was discovered accidentally. During the year 1928, Fleming was investigating the properties of a bacteria named staphylococci. He was already a famous personality who was quite well known because of his earlier work. He had also gained good reputation as a brilliant researcher. Some time during this year, he had gone to a long holiday.

After he returned, he noticed that many of his dishes were contaminated with a fungus and hence he submerged the dishes in a solution of disinfectant. Since he wanted to show his visitors what he had been researching on, he retrieved some of the dishes from the disinfectant. That is when he noticed that a zone had formed around the fungus as a result of which the bacteria could not grow further. He, then, separated a small extract from the mould and identified it as being from the Penicillium genus, and hence named it ‘Penicillin’. Later on, he started his investigation about the positive and negative effects of penicillin on many organisms, and also noticed that some of the bacterium like staphylococci was affected by it. But, he also found out that penicillin did not quite have the required effect on typhoid or paratyphoid. Fleming went on to publish this amazing discovery of his in the year 1929 in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology, but this gained little or no attention at all. Nevertheless, he continued his research work and investigations.

He had the impression that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be effective in treating infection. Fleming was totally convinced that penicillin would not last for a long time inside the human body and hence would not be quite as effective in killing the bacteria that causes infection. He also performed many tests in this regard, which were, unfortunately inconclusive mainly because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. Fleming soon abandoned penicillin and after that Florey and Chain took up the research work right where Fleming had left it. They started to produce it with the help of the funds provided by the U.S. and British Government. Penicillin was mass produced after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Slowly, so much penicillin was produced that it was enough to treat all the wounded soldiers in the war. It can be safely said that because of Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin in the year 1928, the modern antibiotics came into being. Fleming also discovered very early that bacteria developed antibiotic resistance whenever too little penicillin was used or whenever it was used for short period of time.

Personal Life On 23 December, 1915, Alexander Fleming married a trainee nurse, Sarah Marion Mc Elroy of Killala, Ireland. She subsequently died in the year 1949. They had a child named Robert who went onto become a general medical practitioner. After his wife Sarah died, Fleming married Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, who was a Greek colleague at St. Mary's hospital. They were married on April 9, 1953. Amalia passed away in the year 1986. Alexander Fleming died on March 11th in 1955 and is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. Awards Fleming, Florey, and Chain jointly received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945. According to the rules of the Nobel committee a maximum of three people may share the prize, and hence all three of them received it. Fleming was awarded the Hunterian Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England Fleming was knighted in the year 1944.

How to Cite AROUND LAB NEWS / EN » THE FATHERS OF THE SCIENCE Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955) THE FATHERS OF THE SCIENCE Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955) Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955) He was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. Fleming published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. His best-known achievements are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. In 1999, Time Magazine named Fleming one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin, and stated; “It was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mold, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency.

When it was finally recognized for what it was—the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world—penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. By the middle of the century, Fleming’s discovery had spawned a huge pharmaceutical industry, churning out synthetic penicillins that would conquer some of mankind’s most ancient scourges, including syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis”. Fleming served throughout World War I as a captain in the Army Medical Corps, and was mentioned in dispatches. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St. Mary’s Hospital, which was a teaching hospital. He was elected Professor of Bacteriology in 1928. After the war Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents, having witnessed the death of many soldiers from septicemia resulting from infected wounds. Unfortunately antiseptics killed the patients’ immunological defences more effectively than they killed the invading bacteria.

In an article he submitted for the medical journal The Lancet during World War I, Fleming described an ingenious experiment, which he was able to conduct as a result of his own glass blowing skills, in which he explained why antiseptics were actually killing more soldiers than infection itself during World War I. Antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent, and antiseptics seemed to remove beneficial agents produced that actually protected the patients in these cases at least as well as they removed bacteria, and did nothing to remove the bacteria that were out of reach. Sir Almroth Wright strongly supported Fleming’s findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of WWI continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients. “When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer,” Fleming would later say, “But I guess that was exactly what I did”. By 1928, Fleming was investigating the properties of staphylococci.

He was already well-known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher, but his laboratory was often untidy. On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent August on vacation with his family. Before leaving he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner of his laboratory. On returning, Fleming noticed that one culture was contaminated with a fungus, and that the colonies of staphylococci that had immediately surrounded it had been destroyed, whereas other colonies further away were normal. Fleming showed the contaminated culture to his former assistant Merlin Price who said “that’s how you discovered lysozyme.” Fleming identified the mould that had contaminated his culture plates as being from the Penicillium genus, and—after some months’ of calling it “mould juice”— named the substance it released penicillin on 7 March 1929.

He investigated its positive anti-bacterial effect on many organisms, and noticed that it affected bacteria such as staphylococci, and many other Gram-positive pathogens that cause scarlet fever, pneumonia, meningitis and diphtheria, but not typhoid fever or paratyphoid fever—which are caused by Gram-negative bacteria—for which he was seeking a cure at the time. It also affected Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhoea although this bacterium is Gram-negative. Fleming published his discovery in 1929, in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology, but little attention was paid to his article. Fleming continued his investigations, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after having grown the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming’s impression was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in treating infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body (in vivo) to kill bacteria effectively.

Many clinical tests were inconclusive, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic. In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise, and he continued, until 1940, to try to interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin. Fleming soon abandoned penicillin, and not long after Florey and Chain took up researching and mass producing it with funds from the U.S and British governments. They started mass production after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When D-day arrived they had made enough penicillin to treat all the wounded allied forces. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported SEARCH Two of the greatest discoveries of the 20th Century - BIOLOGY - bio 100 Two of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century SCHOOL View Full Document Two of the greatest discoveries of the 20th Century was the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 which we use to protect our bodies from bacteria, and the discovery of an antibiotic substance known as penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum in 1928.

Who was responsible for these achievements? A: Alexander Fleming What specific term refers to the genetic strain that enables a flu strain to jump from one animal species to another, including humans? A: Antigenic shift A retrovirus known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus causes AIDS. What is HIV considered? A: A Pandemic Disease Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. Fleming published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. What is he known for? A: Discovery of penicillin There are many STDs and they are common among teenagers globally. A common STD is pubic lice or crabs. Name the pathogen that causes this disease. A: A parasite (Phthirus pubis) The main tool used to diagnose infectious diseases is microbiological culture. A sample is taken from potentially diseased tissue or fluid and tested for the presence of an infectious agent. Name the medium used to grow most pathogenic bacteria. A: A nutrient called Agar Some infectious diseases are transmitted directly from one individual to another. What do we call an agent that facilitates this transfer? A: A vector Opportunistic diseases are typically caused by microbes that are in contact with the host.

For instance, they are responsible for killing AIDS patients. These microbes belong to an opportunistic agent group. What is the other important group called? A: Primary pathogens Infectious diseases are spread throughout the world. Name the agents responsible for causing human illnesses. ≠A: Pathogenic Microbial Agents This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version. View Full Document Sexually transmitted diseases are very successful at spreading from one person to another. Name one important reason for this fact. A: Mucous membranes differ from skin in that they allow certain pathogens into the body How does the human body protect itself from viruses and other disease causing agents found in planet earth? A: Innate immunity and adaptive immunity The most deadly STD is HIV, but many other viruses can be deadly. Name the most common sexually transmitted infection. A: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Microbes have developed an array of weapons to be able to go from host to host. These virulent factors are divided into several groups, but one important group is the one produced by bacteria. Name the subgroups within this bacterial group. A: Endotoxins and Exotoxins Bacteria use a variety of mechanisms to take control over its host.

One mechanism is the production of toxins. A specific toxin produced by certain type of bacteria is the lipopolysaccharide (LPS). What type of toxin is LPS? This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. TERM Pomona College BIOLOGY 101 - Spring 2015 S C I E T H I C S I N T E R A C T I V E Rainforest Research Real Science in a Virtual Rainforest Packet Alexander Fleming - YouTube Alexander Fleming Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on May 4, 2014 Sir Alexander Fleming, FRSE, FRS, FRCS was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy.

His best-known discoveries are the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the mould Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. This video targeted to blind users. Attribution: Article text available under CC-BY-SA Public domain image source in video Category Another 10 Most Influential Scientists - Listverse Another 10 Most Influential Scientists Mongoose February 26, 2009 Having had two days for our readers to mull over the first list of influential scientists , we are now presenting part two. This was submitted with the original list as a list of 20, so some of the names mentioned in the first list’s comments are absent – but fear not – it is only a matter of time before we will see the third set of ten as we document the greatest influential minds in science. 20 Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630 “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.” Kepler was a German mathematician and astronomer.

A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. He is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astrononomy. They also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation. Kepler also incorporated religious arguments and reasoning into his work, motivated by the religious conviction that God had created the world according to an intelligible plan that is accessible through the natural light of reason. Kepler described his new astronomy as “celestial physics”, as “an excursion into Aristotle’s Metaphysics”, and as “a supplement to Aristotle’s On the Heavens”, transforming the ancient tradition of physical cosmology by treating astronomy as part of a universal mathematical physics. 19 B.F. Skinner 1904 – 1990 “A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.” B. F. Skinner was an American psychologist and inventor.

He invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his own philosophy of science called Radical Behaviourism, and founded his own school of experimental research psychology—the experimental analysis of behaviour. His analysis of human behaviour culminated in his work Verbal Behaviour, which has recently seen enormous increase in interest experimentally and in applied settings. In a recent survey, Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century (above Sigmund Freud). 18 Dmitri Mendeleev 1834 – 1907 “Pleasures flit by – they are only for yourself; work leaves a mark of long-lasting joy, work is for others.” Mendeleev was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is credited as being the creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements. Using the table, he predicted the properties of elements yet to be discovered. 17 1646 – 1716 “Everything that is possible demands to exist” Gottfried Leibniz was a German scientist and mathematician. He invented infinitesimal calculus independently of Newton, and his notation is the one in general use since then. He also invented the binary system, foundation of virtually all modern computer architectures.

He was, along with René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, one of the three greatest 17th-century rationalists. Leibniz also made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in biology, medicine, geology, probability theory, psychology, linguistics, and information science. He also wrote on politics, law, ethics, theology, history, and philology, even occasional verse. His contributions to this vast array of subjects are scattered in journals and in tens of thousands of letters and unpublished manuscripts. As of 2008, there is no complete edition of Leibniz’s writings. 16 1847 – 1931 “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Edison was an American inventor who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world. Dubbed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. 15 1473 – 1543 “Mathematics is written for mathematicians.” Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician who was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically based heliocentric cosmology that displaced the Earth from the centre of the universe. His epochal book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the Scientific Revolution. Among the great polymaths of the Renaissance, Copernicus was also a physician, classical scholar, translator, Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat and economist. Among his many responsibilities, astronomy figured as little more than an avocation — yet it was in that field that he made his mark upon the world.

14 Alexander Fleming 1881 – 1955 “It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject; the details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to enterprise, thought, and perception of an individual.” Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He published many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known achievements are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1922 and the discovery of the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicillium Notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain. 13 1871 – 1937 “All science is either physics or stamp collecting.” Rutherford was a New Zealand physicist and chemist who became known as the father of nuclear physics. He pioneered the orbital theory of the atom through his discovery of Rutherford scattering off the nucleus with his gold foil experiment. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908.

12 1822 – 1895 “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” French chemist and biologist, Louis Pasteur is best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of disease. His experiments supported the germ theory of disease, also reducing mortality from puerperal fever (childbed), and he created the first vaccine for rabies. He was best known to the general public for inventing a method to stop milk and wine from causing sickness – this process came to be called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology, together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch. He also made many discoveries in the field of chemistry, most notably the asymmetry of crystals. 11 1831 – 1879 “There is nothing more practical than a good theory.” Scottish mathematician and physicist. His most significant achievement was the development of the classical electromagnetic theory, synthesizing all previous unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and even optics into a consistent theory. His set of equations—Maxwell’s equations—demonstrated that electricity, magnetism and even light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon: the electromagnetic field.

From that moment on, all other classical laws or equations of these disciplines became simplified cases of Maxwell’s equations. Maxwell also developed the Maxwell distribution, a statistical means to describe aspects of the kinetic theory of gases. These two discoveries helped usher in the era of modern physics, laying the foundation for future work in such fields as special relativity and quantum mechanics. He is also known for creating the first true colour photograph in 1861. Maxwell is considered by many physicists to be the nineteenth century scientist with the greatest influence on twentieth century physics. His contributions to the science are considered by many to be of the same magnitude as those of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. In 1931, on the centennial of Maxwell’s birthday, Einstein himself described Maxwell’s work as the “most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton”. For the most influential scientists numbered 1 to 10, see the first list in this series . This article is licensed under the GFDL because it contains quotations from Wikipedia.

Contributor: Mongoose Alexander_Fleming Alexander_Fleming Faroe Islands stamp commemorating Fleming Born 11 March 1955 (aged 73) Occupation Sarah Marion (dec.), Amalia Vourekas Children Parents Hugh and Grace Fleming Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. Fleming published many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known achievements are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1922 and isolation of the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Florey and Chain. [1] Contents 11 References Birth and education Alexander Flemming was born on 6 August 1881 at Lochfield farm near Darvel in East Ayrshire.

He was the third of the four children of Hugh Fleming (1816 – 1888) from his second marriage to Grace Stirling Morton (1848 – 1928), the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. Hugh Fleming had four surviving children from his first marriage. He was 59 at the time of his second marriage, and died when Alexander (known as Alec) was seven. Fleming went to Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School, and then for two years to Kilmarnock Academy. After working in a shipping office for four years, the twenty year old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle, John Fleming. (For the story about his father rescuing a boy, see the section fable). His older brother, Tom, was already a physician and suggested to his younger sibling that he follow the same career, and so in 1901, the younger Alexander enrolled at St Mary's Hospital, London. He qualified for the school with distinction in 1906 and had the option of becoming a surgeon. By chance, however, he had been a member of the rifle club (he had been an active member of the Territorial Army since 1900).

The captain of the club, wishing to retain Fleming in the team suggested that he join the research department at St Mary's, where he became assistant bacteriologist to Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccine therapy and immunology. He gained M.B. and then B.Sc. with Gold Medal in 1908, and became a lecturer at St. Mary's until 1914. On 23 December 1915, Fleming married a trained nurse, Sarah Marion McElroy of Killala, Ireland, who died in 1949. Their only child, Robert, became a general medical practitioner. After Sarah's death, Fleming married Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, a Greek colleague at St. Mary's, on 9 April 1953; she died in 1986. Fleming served throughout World War I as a captain in the Army Medical Corps, and was mentioned in dispatches. He and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St.Mary's Hospital, which was a teaching hospital.

He was elected Professor of Bacteriology in 1928. Work before penicillin After the war, Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents having witnessed the death of many soldiers from septicemia resulting from infected wounds. Unfortunately antiseptics killed the patients' immunological defences more effectively than they killed the invading bacteria. In an article he submitted for the medical journal The Lancet during World War I, Fleming described an ingenious experiment, which he was able to conduct as a result of his own glass blowing skills, in which he explained why antiseptics were actually killing more soldiers than infection itself during WWI. Antiseptics worked well on the surface, but deep wounds tended to shelter anaerobic bacteria from the antiseptic agent, and antiseptics seemed to remove beneficial agents produced that actually protected the patients in these cases at least as well as they removed bacteria, and did nothing to remove the bacteria that were out of reach. Sir Almroth Wright strongly supported Fleming's findings, but despite this, most army physicians over the course of WWI continued to use antiseptics even in cases where this worsened the condition of the patients.

In 1922, Fleming discovered lysozyme , the "body's own antibiotic", and that it has a weak anti-bacterial property. [2] Accidental discovery By 1928, he was investigating the properties of staphylococci. He was already well-known from his earlier work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher, but quite careless lab technician; he often forgot cultures that he worked on, and his lab in general was usually in chaos. After returning from a long holiday, Fleming noticed that many of his culture dishes were contaminated with a fungus and he threw the dishes in disinfectant. But on one occasion, he had to show a visitor what he had been researching, and so he retrieved some of the unsubmerged dishes that he would have otherwise discarded, when he then noticed a zone around an invading fungus where the bacteria could not seem to grow. Fleming proceeded to isolate an extract from the mould, correctly identified it as being from the Penicillium genus, and therefore named the agent penicillin .

He investigated its positive anti-bacterial effect on many organisms, and noticed that it affected bacteria such as staphylococci, and indeed all Gram-positive pathogens (scarlet fever, pneumonia, gonorrhea, meningitis, diphtheria ) but unfortunately not typhoid or paratyphoid, for which he was seeking a cure at the time. Fleming published his discovery in 1929 in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology, but little attention was paid to his article. Fleming continued his investigations, but found that cultivating penicillium was quite difficult, and that after having grown the mould, it was even more difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent. Fleming's impression was that because of the problem of producing it in quantity, and because its action appeared to be rather slow, penicillin would not be important in treating infection. Fleming also became convinced that penicillin would not last long enough in the human body (in vivo) to kill bacteria effectively. Many clinical tests were inconclusive, probably because it had been used as a surface antiseptic.

In the 1930s, Fleming’s trials occasionally showed more promise, [3] and he continued, until 1940, to try and interest a chemist skilled enough to further refine usable penicillin. Purification to a stable form and industrial scale production Ernst Chain worked out how to isolate and concentrate penicillin. He also correctly theorised the structure of penicillin. Shortly after the team published its first results in 1940, Fleming telephoned Florey , Chain's head of department to say that he would be visiting within the next few days. When Chain heard that he was coming he remarked "Good God! I thought he was dead". Norman Heatley suggested transferring the active ingredient of penicillin back into water by changing its acidity. This produced enough of the drug to begin testing on animals. Sir Henry Harris said in 1998: "Without Fleming, no Chain; without Chain, no Florey; without Florey, no Heatley; without Heatley, no penicillin." There were many more people involved in the Oxford team, and at one point the entire Dunn School was involved in its production.

After the team had developed a method of purifying penicillin to an effective first stable form in 1940, several clinical trials ensued, and their amazing success inspired the team to develop methods for mass production and mass distribution in 1945. Fleming was modest about his part in the development of penicillin, describing his fame as the "Fleming Myth" and he praised Florey and Chain for transforming the laboratory curiosity into a practical drug. Fleming was the first to isolate the active substance, giving him the privilege of naming it: penicillin. He also kept, grew and distributed the original mould for twelve years, and continued until 1940 to try to get help from any chemist that had enough skill to make a stable form of it for mass production. There were many failed attempts around Fleming towards stabilising the substance before Florey organized his large and very skilled biochemical research team in 1938 at Oxford to undertake the immense and innovative work that had to be done to produce a stable 'mass produce-able' penicillin. Antibiotics Fleming's accidental discovery and isolation of penicillin in September 1928 marks the start of modern antibiotics .

Fleming also discovered very early that bacteria developed antibiotic resistance whenever too little penicillin was used or when it was used for too short a period. Almroth Wright had predicted the Antibiotic resistance even before it was noticed during experiments. Fleming cautioned about the use of penicillin in his many speeches around the world. He cautioned not to use penicillin unless there was a properly diagnosed reason for it to be used, and that if it were used, never to use too little, or for too short a period, since these are the circumstances under which bacterial resistance to antibiotics develops. Fable The popular story of Winston Churchill's father's paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young Winston from death is false. According to the biography, Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution by Kevin Brown, Alexander Fleming is quoted as saying that this was "a wondrous fable". Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during WWII. Churchill was saved by Lord Moran, using sulphonamides , since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in Carthage in Tunisia in 1943.

The Daily Telegraph and the Morning Post on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. It is possible that, as sulphonamide was a German discovery, and there was a war with Germany, that the patriotic pride in the miracle cure of penicillin had something to do with this error in reporting. Death and legacy In 1955, Fleming died suddenly at his home in London of a heart attack. He was cremated and his ashes interred in St Paul's Cathedral a week later. His discovery of penicillin had changed the world of modern medicine by introducing the age of useful antibiotics ; penicillin has saved, and is still saving, millions of people. His widow presented his Nobel Prize medal to the Savage Club (a London Gentlemen's club), where Fleming was a member. The Medal is still proudly displayed among the Club's artifacts. Accolades Fleming, Florey, and Chain jointly received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945. According to the rules of the Nobel committee a maximum of three people may share the prize.

Fleming was awarded the Hunterian Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England Fleming was knighted in 1944. Florey received the greater honour of a peerage for his monumental work in making penicillin available to the public and saving millions of lives in World War II, becoming a Baron. The discovery of penicillin was ranked as the most important discovery of the millennium when the year 2000 was approaching by at least 3 large Swedish magazines. [4] It is impossible to know how many lives have been saved by this discovery, but some of these magazines placed their estimate near 200 million lives. See also The Life Of Sir Alexander Fleming, Jonathan Cape, 1959. Maurois, André. Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964 An Outline History of Medicine. London: Butterworths, 1985. Rhodes, Philip. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Porter, Roy, ed.

Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution, Stroud, Sutton, 2004. Brown, Kevin. References ^ "Sir Alexander Fleming – Biography", Nobel, 1945-12-11. ^ Fleming A. On a remarkable bacteriolytic element found in tissues and secretions. Proc Roy Soc Ser B 1922;93:306-17. ^ Keith Bernard Rogers, who worked with Fleming, was treated with penicillin during their research. ^ "Greatest Hero of the Millennium", Ny Teknik, 1999-12-16. Academic offices Alexander Fleming – BD Life Line January 11, 2012 Life Line Life History 0 Alexander Fleming: Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. Fleming published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy.

His best-known achievements are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus penicillium natatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. In 1999, Time Magazine name Fleming one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for his discovery of penicillin, and stated , “it was a discovery that would change the course of history. The active ingredient in that mould, which Fleming named penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognized for what it was-the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world-penicillin would alter forever the treatment of bacterial infections. Microbiology - GiantScience GiantScience Microbiology do the experiment at the start of this session, watch it develop as the topic gets explored Why do we miss school ? Why do we get sick ? germ theory The word Influenza, comes from Italian for 'Influence' , the term was originally used because the illness was attributed to astrological origins.

It then became, influenza del freddo, influence of the cold. Influenza was 1st used in english in 1743 Our bodies are not usually sick, The first line of defence is the body's natural barriers. These include: skin nasal hairs, mucus and cilia tears Then in the blood , platlets serve to close wounds quickly, and form a barrier to pathogens The last natural line of defence is the white blood cell Pathogens Bacteria and Viruses are called Pathogens Bacteria Salmonella bacterium cell Bacteria come in many shapes and sizes, but even the largest are only 10 micrometres long (10 millionths of a metre). Bacteria a single celled organisms, that means they are each only one cell in size. The bacterium cell does not have a nucleus but their genes are carried on a loop of DNA in the cytoplasm. Bacteria are much too small to see, yet they cause many diseases of plants and animals whose effects can be seen. Bacteria are living cells and, in favourable conditions, can multiply rapidly. Once inside the body, they release poisons or toxins that make us feel ill.

They are often spread in dirty water, but can be killed by boiling this water. Examples of Bacterial Diseases Diseases of humans include actinomycosis, anthrax, brucellosis, bubonic plague, cholera, cystitis, dental caries (tooth decay), diptheria, dysentery, food poisoning, gangerine, gastroenteritis, gingivitis, gonorrhoeae, infection of post-operative wounds, infectious jaundice, legionnaires disease, leprosy, meningitis, pinta, pneumonia, psittacosis, pus-forming diseases, rat-bite fever, relapsing fever, rheumatic fever, rocky mountain spotted fever, scarlet fever, septicemia, shigellosis, skin infections, syphilis, tetanus, trachoma, tuberculosis, typhoid fevers, typhus, whooping cough and yaws. Bacterial infections can be cured by the use of an anti-biotic when symptoms get bad. However it's not all bad news. Bacteria can bring some benefits too. Despite their relative simplicity, bacteria carry out most of the key chemical changes of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur in the living world.

The eukaryotes, like us humans, perform relatively small changes to their molecules. Bacteria Benefits of bacteria include: * Bacteria are the only living things which can fix nitrogen. They are therefore essential to all other life on Earth. * Some plants such as beans keep nitrogen fixing bacteria as symbionts in nodules on their root. * Bacteria are the major decomposers of dead plants and animals, so freeing their atoms to be re-used by other living things. * Cows and other animals keep bacteria in their stomachs, as only bacteria can break down the tough cell walls of plants. * People use bacteria to turn wine into vinegar and milk into cheese and yogurt. * They are increasingly used in biotechnology to manufacture proteins. Bacteria need in order to survive. Making Cheese Milk is heated to 70 C for 30 minutes to kill harmful bacteria. This is called pasteurisation. After cooling to 30 C useful bacteria are added. These bacteria produce an enzyme which changes lactose into lactic acid. This makes the milk turn sour. Rennet is added which contains the enzyme rennin. This makes the milk curdle. The lumps are called curds and these are the basis for cheese.

Other bacteria or fungi are added to ripen the cheese. This gives each type of cheese its characteristic smell and flavour. BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS YouTube Video Viruses Hepatitis C virus. DNA are enclosed in a protein coat. Viruses are many times smaller than bacteria. They are the smallest organisms known and consist of a fragment of genetic material inside a protective protein coat. Structure of Viruses • Strand of either DNA or RNA • No cell membrane of organelles Viruses can only reproduce inside host cells, and they damage the cell when they do this. A virus can get inside a cell and, once there, take over and make hundreds of thousands of copies of itself. Eventually the virus copies fill the whole host cell and burst it open. The viruses are then passed out in the bloodstream, the airways, or by other routes. A virus has no ribosomes, water molecules or cell membrane. It cannot build any proteins itself, so it is not a living thing, but it does contain a chromosome which it can inject into a living cell.

When a cell is infected, the virus's genes are taken into the cell's chromosome, -where they begin to give out messages for making new viruses. The infected cell is turned into a factory for making copies of the virus. When it is full of viruses the cell bursts open, sending out millions of viruses to infect more cells. Shapes of Viruses 1. A virus lands on a host cell. 2. Virus’s nucleic acid enters the cell. Viruses cause many diseases in plants and animals. For example the human virus diseases include acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), burkitt's lymphoma, chickenpox, the common cold, conjuctivitis, creutzfeldt-jacob disease (CJD),(mad cow disease), encephalitis, enterovirus disease, gastrointestinal infections, glandular fever, hepatitis, herpes simplex, infectious mononucleosis, influenza, kuru, lassa fever, measles, mumps, polio, rabies, respiratory infections, rubella (german measles), shingles, smallpox, some cancers, warts and yellow fever. However, viruses also bring some benefits. nanotechnology Fungi not only feed on dead matter. They can also invade living plants and animals.

Fungal diseases affect many of our crops, as well as causing human diseases such as athlete's foot, dermatitis, and ringworm Fungi thrive in damp conditions. To Identify Fungi growing Decay dead plants and animals Causes human diseases Examine yeast and two fungi. bakers yeast. Two hosts. Sealed boxes, (clean chinese take away boxes - Ireland), Microscope. Slides & coverslips. Use instructions on back of bakers yeast, to wake the yeast. By spooning the soaked spore masses onto the hosts Grow two fungi, 1 on tomatoes or orange and 1 on bread. Observe/Draw on a daily basis. The worlds most dangerous fungus ?? Could you name 5 clean surfaces, and 5 dirty surfaces? Clean Surfaces OB66 state two uses of biotechnology in industry and two uses of biotechnology in medicine Making of alcohol The making of beer is a very simple transformation of sugar molecules, in grains, to ethanol molecules. The fungus Yeast does this and also gives off CO2. Yeast (a micro-organism) contains enzymes which change sugar into ethanol (alcohol). A second product of the reaction is carbon dioxide. Uses of fermentation include: Beer Brewing, Wine making, bread baking Cheese!

We would have no cheese without bacteria Vaccines Vaccines are when a bacteria or virus similiar to another (more dangerous) bacteria or virus is given to a human. The Humans immune system attacks & destroys this alien pathogen. The immune system has now learned how to destroy this bacteria / virus and will be able to do so again in the future. Worlds 1st Vaccine, On 14 May 1796, Edward Jenner tested his hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, a young boy of 8 years (the son of Jenner's gardener), with material from the cowpox blisters of the hand of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who had caught cowpox from a cow called Blossom,[7] whose hide hangs on the wall of the library at St George's medical school (now in Tooting). Blossom's hide commemorates one of the school's most renowned alumni. Phipps was the 17th case described in Jenner's first paper on vaccination. Non life threatening Virus can be given to a human patient to make them IMMUNE to similar viral threats.

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. Fleming published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. His best-known achievements are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain.[1] Penicillin It must be understood that penicillin is a secondary metabolite of fungus Penicillium, which means the fungus will not produce the antibiotics while it is growing, but will produce penicillin when it feels threatened. There are also other factors that inhibit penicillin production. One of these factors is the synthesis pathway of penicillin Antibiotic's (medicines that fight bacterial infections) are made by Fungi in response to percieved threats. We harvest this and make antibiotics biotechnology in industry and medicine

Question: Which Scottish biologist and pharmacologist who published many articles on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy, discovered the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and an antibiotic substance from a fungus in 1928?
Answer: Alexander Fleming