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40-606: Since 1970, the Robert Koch Foundation has awarded prizes for major advances in the biomedical sciences, particularly in the fields of microbiology and immunology . The prestige of this award has grown over the past decades so that it is now widely regarded as the leading international scientific prize in microbiology. As has been described by a jury member for the prize, the committee often asks, "What would Robert Koch work on today?” to decide on research that should be granted recognition. The more specific Robert Koch Prize

80-696: A "voluminous" work De re rustica (also called Res rusticae )—similar to Cato the Elder 's work De agri cultura —on the management of large slave-run estates . The compilation of the Varronian chronology was an attempt to determine an exact year-by-year timeline of Roman history up to his time. It is based on the traditional sequence of the consuls of the Roman Republic —supplemented, where necessary, by inserting "dictatorial" and "anarchic" years. It has been demonstrated to be somewhat erroneous but has become

120-436: A biological science. One of his students, Adrien Certes, is considered the founder of marine microbiology. Pasteur also designed methods for food preservation ( pasteurization ) and vaccines against several diseases such as anthrax , fowl cholera and rabies . Koch is best known for his contributions to the germ theory of disease , proving that specific diseases were caused by specific pathogenic microorganisms. He developed

160-498: A book on architecture. His only complete work extant, Rerum rusticarum libri tres ("Three Books on Agriculture"), has been described as "the well digested system of an experienced and successful farmer who has seen and practised all that he records." One noteworthy aspect of the work is his anticipation of microbiology and epidemiology . Varro warned his readers to avoid swamps and marshland, since in such areas ...there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by

200-465: A series of criteria that have become known as the Koch's postulates . Koch was one of the first scientists to focus on the isolation of bacteria in pure culture resulting in his description of several novel bacteria including Mycobacterium tuberculosis , the causative agent of tuberculosis . While Pasteur and Koch are often considered the founders of microbiology, their work did not accurately reflect

240-405: A variety of preclinical models. Some bacteria are used to study fundamental mechanisms. An example of model bacteria used to study motility or the production of polysaccharides and development is Myxococcus xanthus . Marcus Terentius Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome 's greatest scholar, and

280-451: A variety of topics. Aside from his many lost works (known through fragments), two endeavors stand out for historians: Nine Books of Disciplines and his compilation of the Varronian chronology . His Nine Books of Disciplines became a model for later encyclopedists , especially for Pliny the Elder ( c.  23 to 79 AD). The most noteworthy portion of the Nine Books of Disciplines

320-472: A very short life, said to pervade every part of the universe, even in tissues of plants and flesh of animals. The Roman Marcus Terentius Varro made references to microbes when he warned against locating a homestead in the vicinity of swamps "because there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and thereby cause serious diseases." Persian scientists hypothesized

360-511: Is commonly considered one of the stepping-stones (along with other prizes such as the Lasker Award ) to eventual Nobel Prize recognition for scientists in the fields of microbiology and immunology, and a number of Robert Koch Prize winners subsequently became Nobel laureates, such as César Milstein , Susumu Tonegawa and Harald zur Hausen . Other notable awardees include Albert Sabin , Jonas Salk and John Enders for their pioneering work on

400-420: Is considered a father of microbiology as he used simple single-lensed microscopes of his own design. While Van Leeuwenhoek is often cited as the first to observe microbes, Robert Hooke made his first recorded microscopic observation, of the fruiting bodies of moulds , in 1665. It has, however, been suggested that a Jesuit priest called Athanasius Kircher was the first to observe microorganisms. Kircher

440-514: Is its use of the liberal arts as organizing principles. Varro decided to focus on identifying nine of these arts: grammar , rhetoric , logic , arithmetic , geometry , astronomy , musical theory, medicine, and architecture . Using Varro's list, mediated through Martianus Capella 's early-5th century allegory, subsequent writers defined the seven classical "liberal arts" of the medieval schools. In c.  37 BC, in his old age, Varro wrote on agriculture for his wife Fundania, producing

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480-678: Is the scientific study of microorganisms , those being of unicellular (single-celled), multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology , bacteriology , protistology , mycology , immunology , and parasitology . Eukaryotic microorganisms possess membrane-bound organelles and include fungi and protists , whereas prokaryotic organisms—all of which are microorganisms—are conventionally classified as lacking membrane-bound organelles and include Bacteria and Archaea . Microbiologists traditionally relied on culture, staining, and microscopy for

520-451: Is the case with bacteriology , mycology , protozoology , virology , phycology , and microbial ecology . There is considerable overlap between the specific branches of microbiology with each other and with other disciplines, and certain aspects of these branches can extend beyond the traditional scope of microbiology A pure research branch of microbiology is termed cellular microbiology . While some people have fear of microbes due to

560-463: The Ilerda campaign of 49 BC. He escaped the penalties of having backed the losing side in the civil war through two pardons granted by Julius Caesar , before and after the 48 BC Battle of Pharsalus . Caesar appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony proscribed him, resulting in his losing much of his property, including his library. As

600-517: The Reatine plain (reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, ) until his old age. He supported Pompey , reaching the office of praetor , after having served as tribune of the people , quaestor and curule aedile . It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the First Triumvirate formed c. 60 BC, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to

640-655: The Republic gave way to the Empire c.  27 BC , Varro gained the favour of Augustus , under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing. Varro had studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo (died 74 BC), and later at Athens under the Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon (died 68 BC). Varro proved a highly productive writer and turned out more than 74 Latin works on

680-433: The tobacco mosaic virus established the basic principles of virology, it was his development of enrichment culturing that had the most immediate impact on microbiology by allowing for the cultivation of a wide range of microbes with wildly different physiologies. Winogradsky was the first to develop the concept of chemolithotrophy and to thereby reveal the essential role played by microorganisms in geochemical processes. He

720-443: The yeast two-hybrid system . Bacteria can be used for the industrial production of amino acids . organic acids , vitamin , proteins , antibiotics and other commercially used metabolites which are produced by microorganisms. Corynebacterium glutamicum is one of the most important bacterial species with an annual production of more than two million tons of amino acids, mainly L-glutamate and L-lysine. Since some bacteria have

760-542: The Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher was likely the first to see microbes, which he mentioned observing in milk and putrid material in 1658. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is considered a father of microbiology as he observed and experimented with microscopic organisms in the 1670s, using simple microscopes of his design. Scientific microbiology developed in the 19th century through the work of Louis Pasteur and in medical microbiology Robert Koch . The existence of microorganisms

800-499: The Plague) in 1658, stating correctly that the disease was caused by microbes, though what he saw was most likely red or white blood cells rather than the plague agent itself. The field of bacteriology (later a subdiscipline of microbiology) was founded in the 19th century by Ferdinand Cohn , a botanist whose studies on algae and photosynthetic bacteria led him to describe several bacteria including Bacillus and Beggiatoa . Cohn

840-493: The ability to synthesize antibiotics, they are used for medicinal purposes, such as Streptomyces to make aminoglycoside antibiotics . A variety of biopolymers , such as polysaccharides , polyesters , and polyamides , are produced by microorganisms. Microorganisms are used for the biotechnological production of biopolymers with tailored properties suitable for high-value medical application such as tissue engineering and drug delivery. Microorganisms are for example used for

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880-584: The association of some microbes with various human diseases, many microbes are also responsible for numerous beneficial processes such as industrial fermentation (e.g. the production of alcohol , vinegar and dairy products ), antibiotic production can act as molecular vehicles to transfer DNA to complex organisms such as plants and animals. Scientists have also exploited their knowledge of microbes to produce biotechnologically important enzymes such as Taq polymerase , reporter genes for use in other genetic systems and novel molecular biology techniques such as

920-477: The biosynthesis of xanthan , alginate , cellulose , cyanophycin , poly(gamma-glutamic acid), levan , hyaluronic acid , organic acids, oligosaccharides polysaccharide and polyhydroxyalkanoates. Microorganisms are beneficial for microbial biodegradation or bioremediation of domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes and subsurface pollution in soils, sediments and marine environments. The ability of each microorganism to degrade toxic waste depends on

960-541: The clinical effects traced to them were originally presumed due to chronic viral infections, virologists took a search—discovering "infectious proteins". The existence of microorganisms was predicted many centuries before they were first observed, for example by the Jains in India and by Marcus Terentius Varro in ancient Rome. The first recorded microscope observation was of the fruiting bodies of moulds, by Robert Hooke in 1666, but

1000-516: The consulship. He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the Three-Headed Monster ( Τρικάρανος in the Greek of Appian , The Civil Wars , II.ii.9). He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC). During Caesar's civil war of 49 to 45 he commanded one of Pompey's armies in

1040-665: The development of polio vaccines. Only Enders was recognized with a Nobel Prize, together with Thomas Huckle Weller and Frederick Chapman Robbins . Two separate Robert Koch Awards are presented annually: The Gold Robert Koch Gold Medal for accumulated excellence in biomedical research and the Robert Koch Prize, worth €120,000, for a major discovery in biomedical science. Source: Microbiology Microbiology (from Ancient Greek μῑκρος ( mīkros )  'small' βίος ( bíos )  ' life ' and -λογία ( -logía )  'study of')

1080-564: The digestive system) or prebiotics (substances consumed to promote the growth of probiotic microorganisms). The ways the microbiome influences human and animal health, as well as methods to influence the microbiome are active areas of research. Research has suggested that microorganisms could be useful in the treatment of cancer . Various strains of non-pathogenic clostridia can infiltrate and replicate within solid tumors . Clostridial vectors can be safely administered and their potential to deliver therapeutic proteins has been demonstrated in

1120-497: The existence of microorganisms, such as Avicenna in his book The Canon of Medicine , Ibn Zuhr (also known as Avenzoar) who discovered scabies mites, and Al-Razi who gave the earliest known description of smallpox in his book The Virtuous Life (al-Hawi). The tenth-century Taoist Baoshengjing describes "countless micro organic worms" which resemble vegetable seeds, which prompted Dutch sinologist Kristofer Schipper to claim that "the existence of harmful bacteria

1160-426: The eyes, but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause serious diseases. A modern scholar, Bertha Tilly, assesses Varro's work as follows: For the immense mass of work completed, for his patriotic fervour, his high moral sentiments, for versatility in forms of writing and in subjects, for the vast range of material, Varro towers above all his contemporaries and his successors: he

1200-643: The isolation and identification of microorganisms. However, less than 1% of the microorganisms present in common environments can be cultured in isolation using current means. With the emergence of biotechnology , Microbiologists currently rely on molecular biology tools such as DNA sequence-based identification, for example, the 16S rRNA gene sequence used for bacterial identification. Viruses have been variably classified as organisms because they have been considered either very simple microorganisms or very complex molecules. Prions , never considered microorganisms, have been investigated by virologists; however, as

1240-595: The nature of each contaminant . Since sites typically have multiple pollutant types, the most effective approach to microbial biodegradation is to use a mixture of bacterial and fungal species and strains, each specific to the biodegradation of one or more types of contaminants. Symbiotic microbial communities confer benefits to their human and animal hosts health including aiding digestion, producing beneficial vitamins and amino acids, and suppressing pathogenic microbes. Some benefit may be conferred by eating fermented foods, probiotics (bacteria potentially beneficial to

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1280-593: The others, mostly in Gellius' Attic Nights . He was called "the most learned of the Romans" by Quintilian , and also recognized by Plutarch as "a man deeply read in Roman history". Varro was recognized as an important source by many other ancient authors, among them Cicero , Pliny the Elder , Virgil in the Georgics , Columella , Aulus Gellius , Macrobius , Augustine , and Vitruvius , who credits him (VII.Intr.14) with

1320-439: The true diversity of the microbial world because of their exclusive focus on microorganisms having direct medical relevance. It was not until the late 19th century and the work of Martinus Beijerinck and Sergei Winogradsky that the true breadth of microbiology was revealed. Beijerinck made two major contributions to microbiology: the discovery of viruses and the development of enrichment culture techniques. While his work on

1360-467: The widely accepted standard chronology, in large part because it was inscribed on the arch of Augustus in Rome; though that arch no longer stands, a large portion of the chronology has survived under the name of Fasti Capitolini . Varro's literary output was prolific; Ritschl estimated it at 74 works in some 620 books, of which only one work survives complete, although we possess many fragments of

1400-536: Was known to the Chinese of the time." In 1546, Girolamo Fracastoro proposed that epidemic diseases were caused by transferable seedlike entities that could transmit infection by direct or indirect contact, or vehicle transmission. In 1676, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek , who lived most of his life in Delft , Netherlands, observed bacteria and other microorganisms using a single-lens microscope of his own design . He

1440-470: Was also the first to formulate a scheme for the taxonomic classification of bacteria, and to discover endospores . Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch were contemporaries of Cohn, and are often considered to be the fathers of modern microbiology and medical microbiology , respectively. Pasteur is most famous for his series of experiments designed to disprove the then widely held theory of spontaneous generation , thereby solidifying microbiology's identity as

1480-464: Was among the first to design magic lanterns for projection purposes, and so he was well acquainted with the properties of lenses. He wrote "Concerning the wonderful structure of things in nature, investigated by Microscope" in 1646, stating "who would believe that vinegar and milk abound with an innumerable multitude of worms." He also noted that putrid material is full of innumerable creeping animalcules. He published his Scrutinium Pestis (Examination of

1520-454: Was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero ). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus ('Varro of Rieti') to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus . Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti in Lazio) into a family thought to be of equestrian rank. He always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in

1560-471: Was hypothesized for many centuries before their actual discovery. The existence of unseen microbiological life was postulated by Jainism which is based on Mahavira 's teachings as early as 6th century BCE (599 BC - 527 BC). Paul Dundas notes that Mahavira asserted the existence of unseen microbiological creatures living in earth, water, air and fire. Jain scriptures describe nigodas which are sub-microscopic creatures living in large clusters and having

1600-456: Was responsible for the first isolation and description of both nitrifying and nitrogen-fixing bacteria . French-Canadian microbiologist Felix d'Herelle co-discovered bacteriophages in 1917 and was one of the earliest applied microbiologists. Joseph Lister was the first to use phenol disinfectant on the open wounds of patients. The branches of microbiology can be classified into applied sciences, or divided according to taxonomy, as

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