Editors: Carol L. Moberg and Zanvil A. Cohn
Publisher: Rockefeller University Press – 97 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani
On October 23, 1939, the antibiotic gramicidin was discovered by Rene Dubos. It was the first antibacterial agent obtained from natural resources through rational pursuit. Fifty years later a symposium was held on October 23, 1989 at Rockefeller University in New York City.
This book is about Rene Dubos and his contributions to science in particular and humanity in general. The editors write in the Preface that Dubos was better known as a biographer, a philosopher of humankind and staunch protector of the environment than as a microbiologist in his earlier career.
Why was the discovery of gramicidin important? Because it was ‘a novel medium for the growth of the tubercle bacillus,’ the editors write. For Dubos, it was one of the “exciting milestones in his early career at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.”
My guess is that most readers have not heard of gramicidin but they certainly know about penicillin. But it was the work on gramicidin that led the two English scientists Ernest Chain and Howard Foley to revive the “dormant research” on penicillin that Alexander Fleming found accidentally in 1928, writes Moberg in the book’s final essay Friend of the Good Earth: Rene Dubos (1901-1982).
Although he was first trained as an agronomist, then as a journalist and later as a soil microbiologist, Dubos’ interests were primarily focused on biomedicine and his main desire in life was to promote human well-being overall.
At this 50th anniversary celebration, “we were fortunate to have with us for this symposium men who were at the forefront of their science. Their personal reminiscences reveal the excitement of a time in which one biological and chemical triumph after another led to a transformation in the therapy of infectious disease,” write Moberg and Cohn.
In this book, nine people including the two editors give their personal accounts on the discovery and use of the first antibiotics discovered and developed during and after the 1930s. They paint images of that exciting period of discovery, the science and scientists of those years; and of the competitive aspects of research, interpersonal relationships and personal gain.
The Rockefeller Foundation played a pivotal role in launching and developing that antibiotic era by supporting global research, which included the efforts of investigators working in small laboratories and in hospitals, including at the bedsides of patients, asking questions and discussing test results. These and other similar efforts led to important patents for the public good.
Joshua Lederberg, who was president of Rockefeller University from 1978 to 1990, writes in the Introduction to this book that his first experience with Dubos was as a medical student, after reading his book entitled The Bacterial Cell, which was published in 1945. At that time, he was working in Francis Ryan’s laboratory at Columbia University.
He praises Dubos on this book by writing: “It is a book that only Dubos could have written, because he brings into sharp focus what we now take for granted – namely, that bacteria are cells. The book is a lucid and accurate summary of the biology of bacteria known through the mid-1940s.” He goes on to mention that Dubos describes in this book the structures and activities of bacteria, and how “impeccably presented” in it are the problems relating to bacterial variability, chemotherapy, immunity, and virulence.
Rene Dubos, who was grateful that antibiotics had been created to fight against disease-carrying bacteria, was also wary that the bacteria would develop into resistant strains and make the antibiotics not as effective as before. Moberg writes that in his book Mirage of Health (1959): “he warned that that these drugs could control, but never conquer their enemies.”
The authors of the personal accounts and essays that make up this book cite their involvement with Dubos in the activities and projects that led to discoveries and development of various antibiotics. Besides the two editors Carol Moberg and Zanvil Cohn, the contributors to this book are: former Rockefeller University President Joshua Lederberg, Edward P. Abraham, Bernard D. Davis, Norman G. Heatley, Rollin D. Hotchkiss, George B. Mackaness and Theodore E. Woodward.
This is an excellent historical account on the discovery and development of antibiotics and the contributions of not only the renowned Rene Dubos but of all those who worked in this field, including the people named above.
