The development of medicines
Penicillin
Antibiotics are chemicals produced by fungi that kill or prevent the growth of bacteria.
Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered.
While investigating bacteria in the 1920s, Alexander Fleming noticed that a fungus (a mould) had contaminated one of his bacterial In microbiology, a colony of microbes, typically on an agar plate..
He noticed the bacteria did not grow near the fungus and concluded that an antibacterial substance was The random movement of a substance from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration out of the fungus, preventing the growth of the bacteria.
In the 1940s, two scientists, Florey and Chain, were able to produce a pure form of penicillin, which Fleming had been unable to do.
They were able to begin large-scale production of penicillin.
Many antibiotics have been discovered since.
Carefully controlled conditions are used to produce penicillin and other antibiotics commercially.
The fungi that make penicillin are grown in large biodigesters or A tank containing nutrients, which is used to grow large numbers of bacteria or yeast. that create the perfect conditions for fungal growth.
The penicillin is then extracted, purified and packaged in a process known as downstreaming.