Genetics and Penicillin

Development of Genetics

Watson and Crick: Worked together =, saw x rays. Built model of DNA. Able to solve mystery of structure of DNA. 1953 - Published paper

Penicillin

Discovered by Alexander Fleming 1928

Found a petri dish with mould growing on it, was penicillin

Mould had killed bacteria

Tested it

Worked out what bacteria it could kill

Abandoned research into penicillin as didn't believe it could work to kill bacteria in humans

Florey and Chain

Proved penicillin was effective

Made aware of it through Fleming's findings

Showed it was effective through testing it on infected mice

Human trail = effective, hard to make huge quantities

Florey- went to America, wanted to convince companies to begin penicillin production

Growth in penicillin

British factories = couldn't produce it, involved in WW2.

America - first produced in 1941

Only made enough for 10 people

1944 - Penicillin production increased, impact of it could be shown

US gov - funded 21 companies to begin mass producing it

Use of penicillin

Effective in treating diseases caused by certain family of bacteria

Used to prevent infection

Encouraged scientists to look for other moulds that could fight infection

Impact of Penicillin

Chemical structure of penicillin mapped

Then able to work on synthetic versions of it that were changed to treat specific diseases

Confidence in medical treatments increased

Some bacteria - had become immune to penicillin through mutilation