Pasteur Institute

The bacterial strains were submitted to the National Collection of Microorganism Cultures of the Pasteur Institute (CNCM) and included R. erythropolis CNCM 1-2204, -2205, -2207, and -2208, and/or R. rhodnii 1-2206. The activity of the microorganisms includes a selective attack on the carbon-sulfur bonds in the organic molecules without significant alteration of the carbon atom structure. As usual, strains were isolated and subjected to successive enrichment phases, in media containing various sources of carbon and DBT as the only sulfur source, then a purification of the enhanced culture led to the fifteen DBT specific strains. From those strains, a subset of ten strains was selected... 

French scientists at the Pasteur Institute, however, promptly dispelled some of Prontosil s mystery, splitting the molecule into a red dye component and an old chemical, sulfanilamide, its 1909 patent long since lapsed (2 ). The suspicion arose that Domagk, an I. G. Farbenindustrie researcher, had rediscovered sulfanilamide, and that the manufacturer had held it off the market until it could be presented in a new, complex, disguised, and patentable form (2, 3 ) Whether or not the suspicion was true, the French scientists, by showing that sulfanilamide was the therapeutically active fraction of Prontosil, shattered the gigantic Germany company s profitable plans. 

The collaboration among the above-mentioned groups was intense and admirable. It represented a historic case in which members of the most scientific research teams in government and university laboratories collaborated totally with research scienhsts in the pharmaceutical industry with the objective to (1) determine whether a virus was present in human blood that might transmit this disease and (2) if so, how the products could be treated before use in human patients to eliminate the parasite. Before the end of the decade, researchers at the NIH and the Pasteur Institute in France isolated a virus they called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), thought to be the cause of AIDS. 

Figure 7. Louis Pasteur s bust in front of the Pasteur Institute in Paris (photograph and by I. Hargittai).

He was made director of a new government laboratory in 1899 in Frankfurt, where he began to experiment in the synthesis of new substances not necessarily found in nature that could kill parasites or inhibit their growth without damaging the mammal. In 1902, Laveran and Mesnil of the Pasteur Institute found a method to infect mice with trypanosomes, and studied the effects of Fowler s Solution on them. They discovered that subcutaneous injection of the sodium salt of arsenous acid can cause the rapid disappearance of the parasite trypanosomes from the blood of mice and rats, but the parasites reappeared within a few days to cause the death of the animals. Ehrlich began... 

Anon, N. D. 2005. The History of the Pasteur Institute. Paris Pasteur Institute. Available at www.pasteur.fr/english.html. 

Less than a year after her husband s death, Mme. Curie accepted a professorship at the University of Paris. With the able assistance of Professor Andre Debierne, who took charge of the laboratory and taught for many years an ever-increasing number of students from all parts of the world, she directed the instruction and research in radioactivity (86). When the university acquired new land, it laid out a street called the Rue Pierre Curie and built a laboratory for her. The Curie Institute and the Pasteur Institute work in close harmony, and Mme. Curie spent much of her time on researches dealing with the therapeutic properties of radium and radon (69). During World War I she had complete charge of the radiological service in French military hospitals. 

Bifidobacterium in Food Products. Commonly referred to as bifidobacteria, these microorganisms were discovered by Tissiei (Pasteur Institute) in 1900 in the feces of infants. These bacteria are not true lactic add bactena, such as Lactococcus or Pediococcus, because they produce both acetic and lactic adds Early research was difficult because of the lack of effective laboratory procedures. Considerable research since the mid-1950s, however, has been conducted. Hughes and Hoover (University of Delaware) reported in 1991 on the beneficial qualities of bifidobacteria and the possibility of their use in Bifid -amended food products, notably dairy products. These therapeutic effects include ... 

Jay Levy s laboratory al UCSF isolated the AIDS virus at almost the same moment it was isolated at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and at the NIH. 

The molecular and genetic relationship between enzyme induction and repression was clarified by the genetic research of Jacob and Monod at the Pasteur Institute, Paris (see reference l7>). Their classic work led them to develop the operon hypothesis for the control of protein synthesis in prokaryotes, which has since been verified by direct biochemical experiments. 

J.-P Sauvage, Universite Louis Pasteur, Institut le Bel, 4 Rue Blaise Pascal, F-67070 Strasbourg, France... 

Montrachet (University of California, 522), champagne (University of California, 505), Steinberg, and French White yeast are used most commonly in the North Coast, though other strains are available. The first two are widely available in dried form and the second two have come from Geisenheim Institute, Germany, and Pasteur Institute, Paris, respectively. The latter no longer supplies yeast cultures. Some wineries maintain their own cultures from year to year, and occasionally fermentations will be allowed to proceed with the grapes natural yeast population. 

Yeasts. The yeast strains used are similar to those commonly employed in the California wine industry. Several of the small V. vinifera wine producers utilize a commercially available lyophilized form of the University of California Davis strain 595. Other strains that are maintained and utilized are Pasteur Institute s white and red wine strains and the Steinberg strain from Geisenheim, Germany. Sparkling wine has been made in Washington State using either the Berkeley Yeast Laboratory strain from Scott Laboratories or a Moet strain from Epernay, France, for the secondary fermentation. These yeasts are all strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 

Universite Louis Pasteur, Institut Le Bel, Strasbourg, France... 

This work was supported by the Universite Louis Pasteur, Institut Universitaire de France and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Thanks are also due to Dr X. Delaigue, Dr F. Hajek and N. Kyritsakas-Gruber. 

Laboratoire de Chimie Organo-Minerale, UMR 7513 du CNRS, University Louis Pasteur, Institut Le Bel, 4, rue Blaise Pascal, 67070 Strasbourg Cedex, France... 

Weizmann A process for producing acetone and K-butanol by the fermentation of carbohydrates by bacteria isolated from soil or cereals. Later work has shown that effective bacteria are Clostridium acetobutylicum and Bacillus Granulobacter pectinorum. Used in Britain in World War I for the manufacture of acetone, needed for the production of cordite. Subsequently operated by Commercial Solvents Corporation in Terre Haute, IN, and in two plants in Canada. Later abandoned in favor of synthetic processes. Invented by C. Weizmann in the University of Manchester in 1915, based on earlier work at the Pasteur Institute by A. Fernbach and E.H. Strange (hence the alternative name Fernbach-Strange-Weizmann). The money that Weizmann obtained from royalties on this process was used in founding the State of Israel, of which he was the first president. 

Jean-Claude Chambron Universite Louis Pasteur Institut Le Bel 4 rue Blaise Pascal 67000 Strasbourg France... 

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