discoveryof pennicilin

1. By- SWIKRITI
JAIN
Roll No.- 87
Guide- Dr.
Gaurav kapil
sir
ALEXANDER FLEMING &
DISCOVERY OF
PENICILLIN

2.  Prior to the discovery of penicillin patients often died from
trivial injuries or infections.
 Physicians had little ability to help patients suffering from
infections.
 Physicians could only watch and wait hoping a patient’s
immune system could topple an infection or not.
PRIOR TO PENICILLIN

3. Discovery of Lysozyme
 In 1922 Fleming described
lysozyme when he noted that
lysozyme-containing material
would interfere with the growth of
bacterial cultures
 Fleming found that a culture of his
own nasal mucous inhibited the
growth of staph cultured from that
same mucous
 Fleming’s background with
lysozyme research prepared him
for his next major discovery
STORY BEGINS

4.  Fleming had a very disorganized lab.
 In 1928 after returning to his lab
following a two week vacation, Fleming
encountered the place in its usual
disarray.
 Fleming had inoculated a number of
petri dishes with staphylococci prior to
leaving on vacation.
 He hadn’t placed them in an incubator
because he knew that the staph would
sufficiently multiply over the long
vacation.
 Little did he know that penicillium mold
grows well at room temperature.
DISORGANIZATION LEADS TO DISCOVERY

5.  Fleming returned to his lab to find many of
his culture plates contaminated with
fungus.
 He immediately started preparing to clean
all his plates but it happened that a former
member of his lab was visiting that day.
 Fleming took some of the contaminated
cultures to show his visitor and that’s when
he noticed the inhibition zone around the
fungus.
 Fleming was not very knowledgeable about
fungi but knew that the mold in his dish
was a species of penicillium.
 Which eventually determined to be
Penicillium notatum.
FLEMING’S OBSERVATION

6.  Fleming’s observation was made under
some accidental circumstances but
clearly made sense in light of Fleming’s
research background
 Fleming had the sophistication to realize
that anti-bacterial agents existed – this
view was really fueled by his background
in lysozyme research
 In 1929 Fleming published a paper
detailing his discovery
 This was also a crucial moment because
his ideas reached a large audience
ACCIDENTAL?

7.  Penicillin Production began in Britain on a small scale in 1941
 During WWI the death rate from pneumonia in the US Army totaled
18% but during WWII the death rate fell to
less than 1% , all credit goes to penicillin.
MASS PRODUCTION

8.  Although the discovery of penicillin is arguably one the
greatest discoveries of humankind, penicillin resistance poses
an enormous problem today.
DRUG RESISTANCE

9. THANK YOU