how do they make penicillin
This wonder drug is created by living, microscopic molds. It was discovered accidentally in 1928. A colony of penicillium molds produced a germicide that destroyed surrounding germs. The little wonder workers were pampered and coddled in special broths to produce more of the miraculous medicine. Researchers found better strains of the mold that produced bigger and better doses. Later, scientists learned how to make penicillin from simple chemicals. But the process was expensive and the little molds were very happy to do the job for much less. Nowadays, penicillin is made in huge tanks that hold perhaps 10,000 gallons. The culture is a rich broth of suitable nutrients, kept at the right temperature. A colony of the penicillium molds is added and the soupy fluid is kept stirred by a stream of air. They thrive, multiply and produce their wonder drug. When the job is done, fine sieves are used to remove the molds and other impurities. The liquid is purified again, then dried to form powder
Penicillium notatum is self-replenishing. Give it a nice home with plenty to eat and it just grows like crazy. No truckloads of bread or illegal immigrants necessary. In the early 1940’s, production was time consuming. For every million parts of culture medium, only a few parts penicillin was yielded. Luckily (sort of), WW2 was right around the corner. With this, penicillin production would soon be considered a war project and thus receive large amount of federal funding. After more than a year, Penicillium notatum was dropped in favor of P. chrysogeum (which is a fruit or veggie mold), which was hundreds of times more prolific in terms of penicillin yield. But this was still not enough. Fiddling with mutations brought about via exposure to x-rays finally resulted in a spore that could produce over a thousand times more penicillin than the original P. chrysogeum. The final challenge was creating a suitable environment for all of those little buggers to grow & make our penicillin for us
The first doses of penicillin were very hard to come by, and the original research¬ers could not produce nearly enough. While these early doses helped a few people and proved the value of the new wonder drug, it was up to medical scientists to find newer, better ways of producing the large quantities needed by the world’s population. Penicillin tells a wondrous story of modern medical research the life saving science that cures so many of our serious illnesses in a jiffy and adds years to our lives. This story began by accident in a London laboratory, way back in the year 1928. The accident was a breeze that entered an open window and wafted over some of the shallow dishes that researchers use to cultivate germs in special soupy broths. They cultivate germs and test them later to find out what destroys them and especially, what destroys them without harming human bodies. That accidental breeze just happened to be carrying the spores of a certain mold. There are countless different mold
