http___www.jutarnji.hr_-nobelovac-selman-waksman-je-bio-varalica-i-nije-izmislio-lijek-za-tuberkulozu--ukrao-ga-je-od-studenta--_1026241__1.xml
1.1 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 4.2 4.3 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 6.3 7.1 7.2 7.3 8.1 8.2 8.3 9.1 10.1 10.2 10.3 11.1 12.1 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8 14.9 14.10 14.11 15.1 15.2
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1952 "for his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis" Selman Abraham Waksman (1888 - 1973) won the Noble Prize in 1952. The award was for discovering streptomycin. Waksman was a soil microbiologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey (USA). In the 1930s, after the success of penicillin, he decided to change the focus of his research and look for more antibiotics. He reasoned that soil microorganisms should be a good source of novel anti-bacterial drugs. Streptomycin was the most famous of the many antibiotics discovered in Waksman's lab. It was largely due to the dedicated work of a graduate student, Albert Schatz, who first identified streptomycin's potent effect on gram negative bacteria in October 1943. Over the next few years, Waksman became famous for discovering streptomycin and Schatz was all but forgotten. In 1950, Schatz sued his former supervisor for recognition, and a share of the royalties. The case was settled out of court with Rutgers agreeing that Schatz and Waksman would be identified as co-discoverers of streptomycin. Schatz received a share of the royalties. In spite of this settlement, the Nobel Prize committee awarded the prize to Wakesman and not to Waksman and Schatz. This was mildly controversial at the time but didn't qualify as a major scandal. It seems more egregious today. The issue is part of a continuing controversy about how to attribute recognition when graduate students are working under the direction of their supervisors. There's no better way to start a fight than to bring this up with a group of graduate students. Are they apprentices, slaves, or collaborators? I am indebted to Philip Johnson of York University (Toronto, Canada) for alerting me to the controversy and for sending along this excellent article about Albert Schatz. Waksman does not specifically mention Schatz's contribution in his Nobel lecture but he is mentioned in the presentation speech (see below) in an obvious attempt to minimize his contribution. Knowing what we know now, should the Nobel Prize website be modified to include a discussion of the controversy? I think it should. THEME: Nobel Laureates Waksman and his collaborator had succeeded in isolating the first antibiotic, which was called «actinomycin» and it was very toxic. In 1942 another antibiotic was detected and studied, called «streptothricin». This had a high degree of activity against many bacteria and also against the tubercle bacillus. Further studies revealed that streptothricin was too toxic. During the streptothricin studies Dr. Waksman and his collaborators developed a series of test-methods, which turned out to be very useful in the isolation of streptomycin in 1943. Encouraged by the discovery of streptothricin and stimulated by the triumphal development of penicillin treatment, the research team headed by Dr. Waksman continued their untiring search for new antibiotic-producing microbes. Before the discovery of streptomycin no less than 10,000 different soil microbes had been studied for their antibiotic activity. Dr. Waksman directed this work and distributed the various lines of research among his young assistants. One of these was Albert Schatz, who had previously worked with Dr. Waksman for 2 months and in June 1943 returned to the laboratory. Dr. Waksman gave him the task of isolating new species of Actinomyces. After a few months he isolated two strains of Actinomyces which were shown to be identical with Streptomyces griseus, discovered by Dr. Waksman in 1915. In contrast to the previous one the rediscovered microbe was shown to have antibiotic activity. To this antibiotic Dr. Waksman gave the name «streptomycin». He studied the antibiotic effect of streptomycin with Schatz and Bugie and found that it was active against several bacteria including the tubercle bacillus. These preliminary studies were completed in a relatively short time, thanks to the clear principles which had been set out previously by Dr. Waksman for the study of streptothricin. The images of the Nobel Prize medals are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation (© The Nobel Foundation). They are used here, with permission, for educational purposes only.
1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 8.1 8.2 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 10.1 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 12.1 12.2 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 14.1 15.1 16.1 17.1 18.1 18.2 19.1
SKANDAL U SVIJETU ZNANOSTI ‘Nobelovac Selman Waksman je bio varalica i nije izmislio lijek za tuberkulozu! Ukrao ga je od studenta.’ Waksman je proširio priču da je njegov student Schatz radio po njegovom nalogu te pokupio slavu, a na kraju ga prevario i za milijunske tantijeme na patent U opskurnom sveučilišnom laboratoriju u New Jerseyju mladi je istraživač neumorno eksperimentirao s mikroogranizmima. Potpuno predan istraživanjima, spavao je u sveučilišnom stakleniku, a hranio se uglavnom mlijekom i jajima. A onda je 19. listopada 1943. nastupio eureka trenutak: 23-godišnji Albert Schatz, kako se zvao entuzijastični istraživač, sintetizirao je streptomicin. Idućih godina taj će antibiotik spasiti živote tisuća ljudi, pogotovo djece koja su dotad umirala od tuberkuloze. No, slavu i novac za to izvanredno otkriće neće pokupiti mladi Schatz, nego njegov šef Selman Waksman , renomirani profesor Sveučilišta Rutgers. Waksmanu je 1952. godine za otkriće streptomicina dodijeljena Nobelova nagrada za medicinu, a tek nakon višedesetljetnih rasprava i borbe za istinu Albert Schatz bit će, nekoliko godina prije svoje smrti, priznat kao suotkrivač streptomicina... Ovo je ukratko sadržaj knjige “Experiment Eleven: Dark secrets behind the discovery of a wonder drug” britanskog novinarskog veterana Petera Pringlea koji već godinama živi u New Yorku i piše za New York Times, Washington Post i Atlantic. Peter Pringle postao je poznat po svojim člancima o Bloody Sunday, masakru koji su britanske trupe 1972. počinile u Sjevernoj Irskoj, a o tom je tragičnom događaju napisao i knjigu. Bio je i dugogodišnji šef Independentova dopisništva u Moskvi, a posljednjih godina piše knjige, od kojih su neke, kao što je primjerice “Those Are Real Bullets, Aren’t They?”, postale bestseleri. Opsežna istraga - Uglavnom pišem političke i knjige o povezanosti znanosti i politike. Čuo sam za kontrovrezu oko otkrića streptomicina i to me potaknulo da počnem tragati po arhivima, ponajprije na Sveučilištu Rutgers, gdje sam proučio papire Selmana Waksmana. Istražio sam i dokumentaciju Alberta Schatza na Sveučilištu Temple u Philadelphiji, arhive u Kongresnoj biblioteci te u Smithsonian Institution. Imao sam pristup i vojnima arhivama jer je otkriće streptomicina tijekom Drugog svjetskog rata imalo veliku važnost - govori mi Peter Pringle u stanci između dva putovanja. - Imao sam prilike i razgovarati s osobama koje su poznavale glavne aktere moje knjige, a naposljetku sam razgovarao i sa Schatzovom udovicom Vivian te Waksmanovim sinom Byronom. Tako se moja potraga za istinom o otkriću streptomicina pretvorila u priču koja nikad nije ispričana - dodao je Pringle. “Experiment Eleven” svojevrsni je znanstveni triler, ali i dramatična priča o dvojici znastvenika koji su u kratkom vremenu od bliskih suradnika postali najljući neprijatelji. Nakon što je 1928. godine britanski mikrobiolog Alexander Fleming iz gljivica plijesni izolirao penicilin, mnogi su znanstvenici počeli potragu za novim antibioticima. Jedan od njih bio je ugledni profesor Sveučilišta Rutgers Selman Waksman (1988. -1973.), inače sin ukrajinskih Židova koji su emigrirali u Ameriku. Waksmanovom laboratoriju 1942. pridružio se siromašni postdiplomand Albert Schatz (1922. - 2005.), sin ruskog Židova i Engleskinje koji je odrastao na skromnoj farmi u Connecticutu. Iako se nakon završetka srednjeg školovanja namjeravao vratiti na očevu farmu, sudbina je Alberta Schatza odvela u drugom smjeru jer je kao briljantan učenik dobio stipendiju na Rutgersu. Nakon diplome iz mikrobiologije, mladić je prionuo na izradu doktorata pod Waksmanovim vodstvom. Život u laboratoriju Profesor i student ubrzo su se zbližili. Mladi Schatz duboko se divio Waksmanu, koji je, pak, bio impresioniran oštrinom uma svoga studenta. Waksman je poslije tvrdio da je Schatz bio najbolji student kojeg je ikad imao. Schatz je ubrzo mobiliziran, ali je 1943. pušten iz vojske zbog bolesne kralježnice. Vrativši se na Rutgers, strastveno se posvetio istraživanjima: počinjao bi raditi ujutro između pet i šest sati, a završavao oko ponoći. U laboratoriju bi jeo, najčešće skromne obroke jer s plaćom od 40 dolara nije mogao zamisliti ni pošten obrok niti bogat društveni život. No nakon samo četiri mjeseca, Schatzova istraživanja u sklopu “Eksperimenta jedanaest” (Experiment eleven), kako je u svom notesu nazvao rad, urodila su plodom. - Bilo je oko 14 sati 19. listopada 1943. godine kada sam spoznao da u rukama imam novi antibiotik. Nazvao sam ga streptomicin - prisjetio se u intervjuu pred smrt Albert Schatz. Spoznavši da je njegov “briljantni student” došao do otkrića novog antibiotika, Waksman se aktivno uključio u istraživanja. Kada su prva testiranja streptomicina na Klinici Mayo pokazala njegovu netoksičnost, Waksman je uvjerio farmaceutsku kompaniju Merck da treba krenuti u proizvodnju tog antibiotika. Klinički pokusi na velikoj skali u Velikoj Britaniji i SAD-u 1944. godine pokazali su da je streptomicin čudesni lijek protiv tuberkuloze. Antibiotik se ubrzo pokazao učinkovitim i u borbi s nizom bakterijskih infekcija poput tifusa, bubonske kuge i kolere. Dok su priznanja Selmanu Waksmanu stizala sa svih strana, mladi Albert Schatz polako je tonuo u anonimnost. Nakon nekoliko godina nitko više nije ni spominjao da je Schatz, a ne Waksman otkrio streptomicin. Kako je bilo moguće da Waksman do te mjere prisvoji otkriće u kojem zapravo nije ni sudjelovao, upitala sam Pringlea. Članak u cijelosti pročitajte u tiskanom izdanju Nedjeljnog Jutarnjeg Više o... FACEBOOK KOMENTARI SAVJETI HZZJZ-A OVAJ VIKEND PRIPREMITE SE ZA TOPLOTNI UDAR! Što učiniti i kako se zaštititi kad temperatura podivlja? MITO NA OTOKU