Biography of fred griffith

The experiment began when Griffith was trying to make a vaccine to prevent pneumonia infections in the " Spanish flu " influenza pandemic after World War Iby using two strains of the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium. Griffith was killed at work in his laboratory inalong with longtime friend and bacteriologist William M. Scott in London during an air raid in the London blitz.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Page Talk. Read Change Change source View history. Tools Tools. A few weeks earlier, Scott had become director of the laboratory, which, with the outbreak of war, had become Emergency Public Health Laboratory Service. Both dated 3 Mayhis obituary in The Lancet mentioned the historical discovery briefly, [ 16 ] and his obituary in British Medical Journal failed to mention it.

Biologists made little more than speculation of Griffith's report of transformation until genetics research in In Frederick Griffith coauthored a paper on acute tonsillitis —its sequelaeepidemiology, and bacteriology. By pneumococcal transformation had been shown to occur in vivo naturally, and it was further shown that treatment with streptomycin during dual infection by two pneumococcal strains could increase transformation—and virulence—while for the first time pneumococcal transformation was shown to occur in the respiratory tract.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. British bacteriologist — For other people named Frederick Griffith, see Frederick Griffith disambiguation. PrescotEngland. LondonEngland. Early life [ edit ]. Double helix. Ministry of Health office [ edit ].

Griffith's experiment [ edit ]. Main article: Griffith's experiment. Impact of Griffith's discovery [ edit ]. The transition from outbreak to abatement of an infectious disease is due not only to an increase in the population resistance, but also a decrease virulence in the microorganisms. Even pathogens that were once highly virulent may biography of fred griffith to a harmless relationship through a long-term confrontation with susceptible individuals.

Frederick Griffith worked as a government laboratory researcher until he died in the Nazi air raids on London in After his transformation experimenthe was quickly forgotten by the world. It was not untilwhen Avery demonstrated that the "transforming principle" genetic material of bacteria was DNA, that Frederick Griffith was recognized as an important figure in the discovery of DNA and genetic information.

He discovered that bacteria could acquire inherited traits from other bacteria. The substance promoting this transformation came from other bacteria and was named by him as the "transforming principle. The experiment about type transformation provided an explanation for the outbreak of pneumonia in communities. Pneumococcus, seemingly harmless and present in the respiratory system, had the potential to become fatal pathogen.

There is very little information on the life of Frederick Griffith; most were reconstructed through letters written by third parties and second-hand information related to their work. These data can help you better understand your career path, as well as the development and evolution of your scientific ideas about the biology of infectious diseases.

As an experienced bacteriologist, at the beginning of World War II he was sent to Cambridge to create and run the Public Emergency Health Laboratory, where he teamed up with Bruce White another bacteriology expert in the laboratory group. Griffith had no political ambitions and let White lead the project. Apparently, Griffith had no talent for organization and had a hard time connecting and meeting new people.

So he decided to return to London and establish a streptococcus research unit in Queen Charlotte's isolation block in Hammersmith, where he began working with Stuart Dunsmore Elliot.

Biography of fred griffith

Upon his return to the British capital, Frederick Griffith went to live at his home in Eccleston Square, where he stayed with a housekeeper and his niece. His friend and collaborator William Scott also shared his residence. In Aprilwhen the bombing started, his friends thought they should move from London, but he did not agree. Days later a bomb destroyed Griffith's house and killed both scientists and the housekeeper.

After his death, Stuart Elliot took over the management of the research laboratory founded by Griffith. In his search for a cure for the flu pandemic in Europe, Griffith studied two strains of the pneumococcus: one he identified as the S strain and the other as the R strain. The first consisted of a shiny-looking capsule with biomolecules polysaccharides that were formed from the bond between several monosaccharides and whose main functions are energy and structural.

This strain was infectious and, when inoculated, produced pneumonia and killed the mice within 24 hours, since the immune system did not fight it because the capsule that surrounded it protected the bacteria.