Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 24. Chemical formulae
Formulae are of the essence to chemistry. We make an attempt to tell the story of chemistry versus bacteria in words only; with the occasional illustration. This episode is packed … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 23. Credit where credit’s due?
On August 27, 1942, the Times publishes an editorial on penicillin’s wonderful achievements. The paper urges government to take at hand industrial production as soon as possible. And now happens … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 22. ‘America First’
By the end of 1941, Heatley starts working at Merck. He quite regularly exchanges letters with Florey. And Florey receives an enormous box from the United States. He is sure … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 21. Still no kilo available
Because of war conditions, Florey doesn’t succeed in securing more money or means for his project of scaling up penicillin production. He thinks that for the time being, having one … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 20. Scaling up
Often, because of shortages of penicillin, the Oxford team has to suspend or modify its animal tests or clinical programs. Shortages not always overcome by penicillin recovered from urine. War … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 19. The battle of Britain
In April and May 1940, the Oxford team tests its brown powder on cats, rabbits, rats, mice and other animals. The animals stay healthy. They also discover that injection is … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 18. Penicillin beats the sulfas!
Four major questions dominated the Oxford research on penicillin. We review them in good order. 1. How do we grow as much mould as possible, while maximizing penicillin production? 2. … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 17. The Oxford team
Eventually, a team of Oxford University succeeds in the production and purification of penicillin. But a strange team it is; it never grows into some kind of unity. It consists … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 16. The Sulfas have the upper hand
The metaphor of a football game befits our theme. Football is war, isn’t it? Project ‘100 years of antibiotics’ Episode 14. Riddles and coincidence Episode 15. Historic antibiotic agents Episode … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 14. Riddles and coincidence
What then caused the penicillin mould to arrive in Alexander Fleming’s petri dish? And why were conditions exactly right at that moment for killing the staphylococci? Even today we don’t … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 13. November 1921 and September 1928
The story of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming is well-known. On returning from a holiday on September 3, 1928, he remarks that in a petri dish with a … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 12. Lessons learned
The title of our last episode (Pride comes before a fall) may not do justice to the major importance of the sulfas for the further development of medicinal chemistry. In … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 11. Pride comes before a fall
Both the UK and the US greet M&B 693 or sulfapyridine with much enthusiasm. In the war years, this message about the sulfas is a much-needed piece of good news. … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 10. International recognition
In 1937 already, the medical profession in the United Kingdom, France and the United States recognizes the major importance of the sulfanilamide and the other sulfas; for different reasons in … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 9. In the crossfire
We haven’t yet told the whole story about the sulfas in Germany during WW II. For further reading we recommend the book by John E. Lesch, already referred to: The … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, # 8. The success of the sulfas; with a black rim
After Prontosil, the sulfas make a breakthrough. The success really takes off in WW II, in particular in the forces of Germany and its allies. But the success has a … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, episode 7. Aspirin
According to one version of the history of Aspirin, German chemist Felix Hoffmann who works with Bayer, has it all sorted out in 1897. Felix is 29 years old. As … Read more
Who are we? The microbiome revisted
In the column ‘There is no such thing as an individual’ we mentioned the influence of the microorganisms in our bodies on our development. But biologists have already gone much … Read more
Chemistry vs. bacteria, episode 6. Gerhard Domagk and Prontosil, the first sulfa drug
The success of Salvarsan leads Paul Ehrlich to believe that he will quickly be able to eliminate many other pathogens. In 1914, he addresses the 7th International Medical Congress in … Read more
100 years of chemistry vs. bacteria, episode 5. A colourful foreplay
Many of our readers will know the prominent role played by Germany in the development and the many applications of synthetic dyes. They will also know the name of Justus … Read more
100 years of chemistry vs. bacteria, episode 3. Mercurochrome, Ehrlich’s chemotherapy the American way
In 1913, Hugh Hampton Young returns to the US from the international medical conference in London, deeply impressed by Paul Ehrlich’s chemotherapy. Young works as a surgeon at the Brady … Read more
100 years of chemistry vs. bacteria, episode 2. Paul Ehrlich, Salvarsan and chemotherapy
In 1890, Robert Koch appoints Paul Ehrlich his assistant. Although Ehrlich (1854-1915) is above all a medical doctor (together with Emil Adolf von Behring he develops a vaccine against diphtheria), … Read more
100 years of chemistry vs. bacteria, episode 1. Louis Pasteur vs. Robert Koch
In long-term conflicts, often we can hardly tell when they started, or what their origin was. And who played what part? Often, the beholder is the judge of the answer; … Read more
The 100 year war between chemistry and bacteria, in 100 episodes
As soon as World War I had ended, research on infections soared. There was pressure to come up with results, much pressure. Bacterial infections had been responsible for most casualties … Read more
There is no such thing as an individual
Modern biologists are waging a fierce debate on the meaning of the concept of the individual. Definitions of well-known phenomena like symbiosis and parasitism need to be rephrased. The debate … Read more
Review: biostimulants for sustainable crop production
This book is what a review should be all about: lengthy (365 pg), thorough, several tables and hundreds of references. Overall, this is a complete book on a highly relevant … Read more
European generic medicines production after corona
By the end of 2019, both USA and EU became aware of their dependence on China and India in generic medicines supply. Particularly the dependence on China was judged to … Read more
Biomedicines are coming
The major pharmaceutical industry is going through a difficult time. Industry should find a new track. Biomedicines could open up a new chapter. This is the third of four articles … Read more
New superpowers in the pharmaceutical industry?
The major pharmaceutical industry (big pharma) is going through a difficult time. Industry needs to come on track again. Can the new superpowers India and China lead the way? This … Read more
Has big pharma lost track?
Major pharmaceutical companies (big pharma) are having a difficult time. Shareholders complain about falling profit margins; governments, insurance companies and patients complain about sky-high medicine prices. Industry should find a … Read more
Corona pandemic and energy transition
Will the corona pandemic speed up the energy transition? The question is much debated. Those who would like to accelerate the transition seem to have the upper hand, if we … Read more
New antibiotics – their development stagnates. Why?
Resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem; and yet, the development of new antibiotics stagnates. Why? Don’t we need new antibiotics, on second thoughts? Or does industry judge that new … Read more
High hopes for holism
Reductionism, reducing issues to little fragments, is at the basis of our present wealth. It also has a major influence on our social behaviour and our worldview. This may take … Read more
Engineering life will require responsibility and control
The quest for engineering life is an infinite ‘marketplace’ for science, commerce and society. They are the very stakeholders that will have to decide on the rules of the game: … Read more
Tetraethyl lead, the scandal that never erupted
Modern history is full of stories of new chemicals sold on a large scale and afterwards causing problems. Sometimes, this causes a major upheaval. But by far the largest poisoning … Read more
Geopolitics of information, the next conflict zone
In four earlier articles we came to the conclusion that geopolitics of fossil, mineral and agricultural resources will become less important. But a new geopolitical dimension quickly rises to the … Read more
The role of chemistry in the reduction of plastic waste
In a first article, we proposed that plastic waste should no longer exist in ten to fifteen years from now. This ambitious goal needs to be tackled from two sides: … Read more
Food and water as geopolitical assets
Can food supply and access to clean water develop into geopolitical weapons, like fossil energy has been for many years? If so, we should see a structural imbalance between food … Read more
We proudly present… More with Less
For us, April 21st was a day to remember. A month ahead of schedule we presented our new book: More with Less, welcome to the Precision Economy. The scene was … Read more
Bioplastics: end the confusion
The term bioplastics causes much confusion and will continue to do so, according to my conviction. The public does not seem to grasp the difference between bio as in biobased … Read more
Energy storage, its role in the transition
In many discussions on sustainable energy, energy storage is a controversial issue. Particularly non-experts use the lack of simple storage technologies as an unanswerable remark: all nice and well, sustainable … Read more
Economists, listen: the earth is NOT a closed system
Many social scientists make an appeal to fundamental laws of nature in order to sustain their arguments. Fine, if their interpretation is tenable from a scientific point of view. But … Read more
The shelf life of green chemistry
Green chemistry is threatened both from without and within. In the heydays of classical organic chemistry, in a way many researchers overestimated their powers: they could synthesise anything, even from … Read more
Towards a sustainable medicines production
A decade ago, in an authoritative scientific magazine, we published a prediction (1) on the synthesis of complicated molecules, primarily medicines. We foresaw the integration of chemo and bio catalysis … Read more
Biotechnologically produced food: positioning and profit margin
So far, the laws of marketing have been insufficiently dealt with in our articles on biotechnologically produced food, and consumer reaction to it. In marketing, all revolves around a very … Read more
Psychology of innovation: biotechnology should learn to listen!
Public judgement surprises biotechnological researchers again and again. Sometimes it is surprisingly favourable, like in the case of the development of artemisinin, an anti-malarial drug, using modified organisms. Often it … Read more
Trust is the basis of successful R&D
The problem surfaces everywhere: how to organise successful R&D in a cooperation between research institutes and businesses. Two worlds with very different cultures. Each with their proper rules and their … Read more
Energy neutral instead of shale gas free
Some communities declare themselves ‘shale gas free’. Pure symbolism. They know very well that they do not have a say in this. Apparently, they have the (naïve) idea that such … Read more
Logical mistakes on CO2
Our planet’s temperature rises. There is ample proof for that. CO2 emissions are the main reason, we know that for sure as well. We cannot deny that our wealth and … Read more
Sustainable energy: keeping the score. Part 3: fossil fuels with CCS
Renewable sources cannot cover more than 30% of our energy demand within the next 25 years. A clear-cut strategy for continued deployment of fossil energy sources is unavoidable in which … Read more