Screening antibiotics : industrial research by CEPA and Merck in the 1950s
Santesmases, María Jesús (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Espanya). Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales. Instituto de Filosofía)

Data:	2011
Resum:	This article is an account of a screening programme in search of new antibiotics established by CEPA (Compañia Española de Penicilinas y Antibióticos) and Merck in Madrid in 1954. An exploration of the genealogy for such a programme, its narratives and practices, shows that the main inspiration for this programme was the factory system of production, on the one hand, and Selman Waksman's research agenda on microorganisms of the soil, on the other. In this article, the relationship between industrial production of antibiotics and the research program aimed at identifying new candidate drugs is examined. I suggest that this screening program in search of new antibiotics was organised like industrial manufacturing. The research objects and tools came, both materially and conceptually, from industrial production: a line of artisanship put together in order to obtain a product with the collaboration of every member of the production line. Following the style developed by Selman Waksman in Rutgers, the screening program evaluated samples manually, and the microbiological skills were enhanced with every test. The Madrid team's practice of applying instructions for use led to circulation of knowledge and practices, including research material and microbiological methods.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Antibiotic screening ; CEPA ; Spain ; Factory system and research ; Antonio Gallego ; Selman Waksman ; Screening de antibióticos ; España ; Sistema fabril e investigación
Publicat a:	Dynamis : Acta Hispanica ad Medicinae Scientiarumque. Historiam Illustrandam, Vol. 31, Núm. 2 (2011) , p. 407-427, ISSN 2340-7948

Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/Dynamis/article/view/253045
DOI: 10.4321/S0211-95362011000200008

22 p, 127.2 KB

El registre apareix a les col·leccions:
Articles > Articles publicats > Dynamis
Articles > Articles de recerca