Plot 23, Sanborn Field, Columbia, MO
**Sanborn Field and Soil Erosion Plots** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000413, date listed 10/15/1966
University of Missouri campus
Columbia, MO (Boone County)
A National Historic Landmark (www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nh...).
The bacterium that led to the discovery of the world's first tetracycline antibiotic, aureomycin (chlortetracycline), was isolated from a soil sample taken from Plot 23 of Sanborn Field at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. This groundbreaking discovery occurred in 1945 and the antibiotic was made available to doctors by 1948.
The specific bacterium, Streptomyces aureofaciens strain A377, was found in soil from Plot 23, a section of Sanborn Field that had been continuously planted with timothy grass without soil amendments since 1888.
Dr. B.W. Duggar isolated the bacterium while working for Lederle Laboratories. He had previously been a faculty member at the University of Missouri.
Aureomycin was considered a "wonder drug," effective against a wide range of bacterial infections including pneumonia, typhus, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which did not respond to earlier antibiotics like penicillin.
A soil sample from Plot 23 was put on display at the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate the discovery, and Sanborn Field was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. The antibiotic is still used today, particularly in veterinary medicine. (Google AI)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/8181/...
Plot 23, Sanborn Field, Columbia, MO
**Sanborn Field and Soil Erosion Plots** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000413, date listed 10/15/1966
University of Missouri campus
Columbia, MO (Boone County)
A National Historic Landmark (www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nh...).
The bacterium that led to the discovery of the world's first tetracycline antibiotic, aureomycin (chlortetracycline), was isolated from a soil sample taken from Plot 23 of Sanborn Field at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. This groundbreaking discovery occurred in 1945 and the antibiotic was made available to doctors by 1948.
The specific bacterium, Streptomyces aureofaciens strain A377, was found in soil from Plot 23, a section of Sanborn Field that had been continuously planted with timothy grass without soil amendments since 1888.
Dr. B.W. Duggar isolated the bacterium while working for Lederle Laboratories. He had previously been a faculty member at the University of Missouri.
Aureomycin was considered a "wonder drug," effective against a wide range of bacterial infections including pneumonia, typhus, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which did not respond to earlier antibiotics like penicillin.
A soil sample from Plot 23 was put on display at the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate the discovery, and Sanborn Field was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. The antibiotic is still used today, particularly in veterinary medicine. (Google AI)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/8181/...