Microbio Lec prelims

• Microorganisms, also known as "microbes," are tiny living things that are too small to be seen by the naked eye
• Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, with "micro" meaning small, "bio" meaning life, and "logos" meaning study
• Early notions of disease, contagion, and containment:

  • In the Bible, there was a practice of quarantining people with leprosy and other diseases
  • Ancient Greeks attributed diseases to bad air, known as "miasmatic odors"
  • Romans followed the miasma hypothesis and created a complex sanitation infrastructure to deal with sewage
• Hippocrates is considered the Father of Western medicine and believed that diseases had natural, not supernatural causes
• Thucydides, known as the Father of Scientific history, advocated for evidence-based analysis and had an early understanding of the concept of immunity
• Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman writer, proposed the concept that things we cannot see can cause disease in his work "Res Rusticae" (On Farming)
• Antony van Leeuwenhoek is known as the "Father of Microbiology" and first observed microbes, referring to them as "Little Animalcules" with the first sketch of bacteria
• Robert Hooke developed the first practical compound microscope and started the cell theory, which states that all living things are composed of one or more cells, and the cell is the basic unit of life
• Louis Joblot described protozoa and is known as "The other father of Microscopy"
• Spontaneous Generation Theory (Abiogenesis) proposed that living things came from non-living things, with John Needham supporting it and Lazarro Spallanzani opposing it
• Francisco Redi was a strong opponent of spontaneous generation and conducted experiments showing that maggots did not arise from decaying meat
• Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann proposed the Unified Cell Theory, stating that all functions of the body are considered as the effects of cellular functions
• Theory of Biogenesis, supported by Rudolf Virchow, states that all living things are from pre-existing living things
• Louis Pasteur, along with Koch, led the Golden age of Microbiology and introduced pasteurization, the "Germ Theory of Disease," and vaccines for cholera, anthrax, chicken pox, and rabies
• Edward Jenner developed the vaccine against smallpox and is known as the Father of Immunology
• Nicolas Appert introduced the system of heating to preserve foods and is considered the Father of food science
• John Snow treated a cholera outbreak by identifying contaminated water supply as the source
• John Tyndall identified two types of bacteria, labile and endospore, and developed the Tyndall Chamber
• Robert Koch strengthened the Germ theory of disease by identifying specific bacteria causing anthrax, tuberculosis, and cholera
• George Gaffky isolated the typhoid bacillus
• Emily von Behring developed the diphtheria toxin and is widely known as the "saviour of children"
• Shiba Saburo Kitasato isolated the tetanus bacillus
• Christian Gram developed the Gram-staining technique
• Julius Petri developed improved petri dishes for bacterial culture
• Charles Nicolle proved that typhus fever is transmitted by lice
• Albert Calmette worked on TB immunization, BCG vaccine, and the first antivenom
• Jules Bordet identified the whooping cough bacillus
• Paul Ehrlich discovered the first effective treatment for syphilis
• Alphonse Laveran discovered parasitic protozoans as causative agents of infectious diseases like malaria
• Ronald Ross discovered the role of a female Anopheles mosquito in the transmission of malaria
• William Welch isolated the gas gangrene bacillus
• Howard Ricketts discovered rickettsia species
• Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin
• Jonas Salk discovered the intradermal vaccine for polio virus
• Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine
• Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier were the first two researchers of the HIV virus
• Joseph Lister is known for the aseptic technique and is considered the Father of Antiseptic Surgery
• Albert Neisser discovered Neisser gonorrhea
• He Jiankui was the first to gene-edit children
• Carolus Linnaeus is known as the Father of Taxonomy