Oswald Avery: Pioneer of Bacterial Vaccines and the First to Discover the Function of DNA.
Series / Report no.
Open Access
Type
Article
Language
en
Date
2024-10-14
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Title
Oswald Avery: Pioneer of Bacterial Vaccines and the First to Discover the Function of DNA.
Translated Title
Published in
Cureus 2024; 16(10):e71465
Abstract
Dr. Oswald Theodore Avery (1877-1955), M.D., played an immense role in the biological and medical field because of his groundbreaking research. All his life, he worked on , the bacterium that causes pneumonia. He discovered the principle of polysaccharide conjugate vaccines, which now save the lives of millions of children and the elderly. He found that bacteria can transfer plasmids; most importantly, he identified that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the carrier of genetic information instead of the (at that time widely accepted) protein theory. Though he was never awarded the Nobel Prize, his work was the basis for countless achievements building on his foundation, ranging from effective vaccines to gene transfer technologies.