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Rachel Fuller Brown, Elizabeth Lee Hazen, and Nystatin |
• Rachel
Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen
Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth
Hazen invented Nystatin, the world's first useful antifungal antibiotic. |
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By
Mary
Bellis
As researchers for the New York Department
of Health, Elizabeth Lee Hazen and Rachel Fuller Brown combined their efforts
to develop the anti-fungal antibiotic drug nystatin. The drug, patented
in 1957 was used to cure many disfiguring, disabling fungal infections
as well as to balance the effect of many antibacterial drugs. In addition
to human ailments, the drug has been used to treat such problems as Dutch
Elm’s disease and to restore water-damaged artwork from the effects of
mold.
The two scientists donated the royalties
from their invention, over $13 million dollars, to the nonprofit Research
Corporation for the advancement of academic scientific study. Elizabeth
Lee Hazen and Rachel Fuller Brown were inducted into the National Inventors
Hall of Fame in 1994.
ANTIBIOTIC
(Gr. anti, "against"; bios, "life")
An antibiotic is a chemical substance produced by one organism that is
destructive to another.
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