World that fascinates me!!

After my 10^th standard matriculation schooling, I took pure science group which was only for pursuing medicine with only biology major and another group was pure maths group for becoming engineers. The reason behind choosing pure science group with only biology major because maths was a like hard pill to swallow. When our Maths teacher was teaching the class, I would go around the world and when the bell rings at the end of the maths class, I will be back! I feel teachers play role in making the student to love any subject. My sister would coach me before the maths exams late night and the next day morning she would ask me “What is the answer of 1 multiplied by 0?” and I would answer “1”. My sister will knock on my head and “I see stars in the daytime”. The dream of becoming a Doctor got shattered due to low marks.  Stepped into Zoology major in undergraduate. Instead of doing surgeries as a Doctor, was dissecting cock roaches, snails, rats, frogs in the Zoology lab. Microbiology course made its entry in early 90’s in our state and we were the second set in the state and there were only two colleges for Microbiology in the entire state at that time. Secured a seat in post graduate in Microbiology. Since the course was new, we never had sophisticated autoclave, laminar air flow station for the practical classes, instead we worked by sterilizing media in pressure cookers and using the “Halo” of the flame for the culturing of the micro-organisms, pour plating and flaming the inoculation loop. “Halo” of the flame is the region where there would be no microorganisms due to the heat. We had a picture of Louis Pasteur, the French Microbiologist in our classroom silently watching us all the time. I started reading the work of Louis Pasteur and it was interesting to know how his work in the 18^th century led him to become the “Father of Microbiology”.

A gooseneck flask, is a flask with a particular shape of tube leading into it. The swan neck significantly slows down the motion of air through the tube, and particles in the air, such as bacteria, become trapped on moisture on its inner surfaces. As a result, sterile liquid in the vessel itself remains sterile as long as the liquid does not contact the contaminated liquid in the tube. Louis Pasteur developed and used this apparatus in 1859 to prove that particles in the air [Germ theory], rather than the air itself [Spontaneous generation], led to fermentation. This design was later used in the fermentation industries for supplying oxygen during the fermentation process. It would be interesting to know the design of our nose too is similar to the goose neck phenomenon in trapping microorganisms. The architect of Human beings, God’s own design?

Equally fascinating was the accidental discovery of Pencillium by Dr. Alexander Fleming, the Scottish Microbiologist and son of a farmer. Returning from holiday on September 3, 1928, Fleming began to sort through media plates containing colonies of Staphylococcus, the bacteria that cause boils, sore throats and abscesses. He noticed something unusual on one media plate. It was contaminated with a fungus. The bacterial zone immediately around the fungus, later identified as a rare strain of Penicillium notatum was clear, as if the mold had secreted something that inhibited bacterial growth. Had it been any other Microbiologist, he or she might have thrown the plate but it caught the eye of Fleming. A simple observation which led to the greatest discovery in the world saving human life, the drug Penicillin. He was awarded Nobel Prize in 1945 for his discovery and contribution. In his words, he said “I did not invent penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it by accident.”

I had an opportunity to work with the fungal strain Penicillium chrysogenum for the large scale industrial production of Penicillin G in JK Pharma, Cuddalore, TN, India. A mycelial and a pelleted strain, right from the natural selection, harvesting and batch fermentation. Industrial fermentation is an interesting science combined with engineering, design of the fermenters and predicting the penicillin production after 150 hrs just by observing microscopically the first 30 hours of the growth.

Before to Louis Pasteur, in the 17^th century Antony Van Leeuwenhoek learned to grind lenses, made simple microscopes, and began observing with them. He noticed the microorganisms in different water samples and was the pioneer to open the gates of this fascinating world of Microbiology. Although Leeuwenhoek’s studies lacked formal scientific research, his powers of careful observation enabled him to make discoveries of fundamental importance.

I always wonder why did human kind took these many centuries to discover microorganisms, though microorganisms existed the day human origin started. It may be the making of wine, decay of foods, decay of all bodies, diseases etc. May be it might have been discovered, but the knowledge was not documented or transferred to the next generation. My question would be always, “Whether, was is it the victory of God and failure of Humans or was it the Victory of Humans and the failure of God?” In olden days, a person encountering a disease was termed due to the curse from God like small pox, chicken pox! These great Microbiologists paved the way to disprove the dogma’s prevailing in the societies.

No doubt, the microbial world is so fascinating.

One of the species attacks humans a disease and another species is able to produce antibiotics to save that disease.

Microorganisms produce diseases and the same microorganism is employed as vaccine to prevent the disease. In 1757, an 8-year-old boy was inoculated with smallpox in England. The procedure was effective, as the boy developed a mild case of smallpox and was subsequently immune to the disease. His name was Edward Jenner.  Later he received worldwide recognition and many honors for the breakthrough in vaccination.

Jenner heard a dairymaid say, “I shall never have smallpox for I have had cowpox. I shall never have an ugly pockmarked face.” It fact, it was a common belief that dairymaids were in some way protected from smallpox. Later Jenner was able to convince the whole world with his works of vaccination what the dairymaid said. The antibodies developed against cowpox was able to prevent smallpox.

For many centuries, smallpox devastated mankind. In modern times we do not have to worry about it and thanks to the remarkable work of Edward Jenner. Jenner’s work is widely regarded as the foundation of immunology.

The discovery and promotion of vaccination enabled the eradication of smallpox: this is Edward Jenner’s ultimate vindication and memorial.

Was interesting to know and understand the making of Corona and Malarial vaccines.

Microorganism thrive well on sugars and when the concentration of the same sugar is high, they cannot grow, leading to the lac operon theory. At higher concentration, it shuts down the enzymatic process of assimilation.

Large scale production of proteins, vitamins, amino acids, antibiotics using microbial biotechnology. We cannot see them but we are able to employ them in large scale production.

Nitrogen fixing bacteria in the root nodules of the plant, milk to curd, decay of any material.

In 2020, Corona Virus was a surprise element in the world, though it was devastating, it has left us taught many aspects of the life, the communication, use of technology, relationships etc.

So, the microbial world is really a fascinating one, isn’t it? In fact, the Microbiologists of the last four centuries just opened the doors of this fascinating, beautiful world of Microbes. I could feel that the time it took for humans to discover about microorganisms was it takes lot of time, to go in-depth into this world and it is a lifetime study. Iam pretty sure that we have just entered this microbial world, the door has just opened for us to explore. Still the underwater microflora is an area still untouched. The generations to follow us will explore further this world! Hope they would focus on the undiscovered microorganisms in addition to studying on “Aliens”, sending rockets to other planets, knowing about the mysteries of the black holes!

Note-The images given for representation in this blog are taken from Google / Unsplash Images. Many thanks for Google & Unsplash.