Overall

I was surprised that the person who discovered bacteriophages lacked a formal college education and discovered them through sheer curiosity and persistence.

1. Describe the role that locusts, dysentery and war had in the discovery of bacteriophage.

D’Herelle first noticed bacteriophages in locusts that were suffering from a bacterial infection. The outbreak of World War I put a temporary pause on the research of the locusts, but d’Herelle’s research came full circle when he noticed the same phenomenon in the feces of patients infected with dysentery as a result of the war (close quarters and limited supplies/hygiene led to the spread of the infection). The clear spots d’Herelle noticed were plaques similar to those we experienced in lab; the bacteriophages present in the bacterial cultures would kill off the bacteria and leave clear spots, which intrigued d’Herelle. However, he only noticed these clear spots/tubes in locusts/patients that were in recovery, so this led him to believe that the things in the bacteria that appeared clear helped cure the infections.

2. Discuss the characteristics of d’Herelle that led him to be a successful scientist. How did he compare to Georgi Eliava?  What happened to the Eliava’s?

D’Herelle didn’t give up—he was largely doubted by his colleagues, but he persisted nonetheless. Even with publications criticizing him, he remained steadfast in his discoveries from his experiments. His curiosity drove him to continue on in his research. Eliava was similar to d’Herelle in disposition, however Eliava completed a medical degree and formal laboratory training. They both came from wealthy backgrounds, however Eliava lived in Georgia, giving him connections to anti-Soviet people of power. This eventually led to his arrest by the secret police and to his and his wife’s murders when the Soviets purged the intellectual and rich.

3. Discuss the influence war and politics had on the spread of phage therapy.

Like the Cold War generated competition for space travel, World War I created competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for scientific discovery and healthcare. The conditions brought about by the war led to outbreaks of disease from lack of food, close quarters, stress, etc. Thus, it was imperative for each nation to come up with a way to treat its people/troops. The aforementioned rivalry between the two nations led to each experimenting with phage therapy as an easy and cost-effective way to treat infections within their populations.

4. What are some of the reasons that the spread of phage therapy failed?

The development of antibiotics overtook the usage of phage therapy; antibiotics were easier to reproduce positive results with, as their genomes did not change and were able to be mass-produced. Additionally, d’Herelle was arguably the largest proponent of phage therapy in the world at this time, and he removed himself from the limelight after the death of Eliava, thereby decreasing the spread of phage therapy because no one was actively promoting it.

5. How did the physicists Delbruck and Luria end up as part of the Phage Group? What contributions did they make to phage biology?  Why did phage biology die out in the 70’s?

Delbruck and Luria created the Phage Group, which united scientists from different backgrounds and fields to come together and study the importance of phages and phage therapy. They generated more interest in the field for a short time and figured out how phage replicated. Unfortunately, they only researched 7 phages, so the spark of interest in the field degenerated fairly quickly.