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The Circulation of Penicillin in SpainModern Times: Screening Antibiotics and the Factory Line

The Circulation of Penicillin in Spain: Modern Times: Screening Antibiotics and the Factory Line [This chapter is an account of the 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 inspirations were the factory system of production, and Selman Waksman’s research agenda on microorganisms of the soil. The relationship between industrial production of antibiotics and the research programme intended to identify new candidate drugs is examined, and I suggest there were organisational similarities. Moreover, the research objects and tools originated—both materially and conceptually—from industrial production: a line of artisanship constructed to obtain a product through the combined effort of the production line workers. Following the style developed by Selman Waksman at Rutgers University, the screening programme evaluated samples manually, and microbiological skills were enhanced with every test. The Madrid team’s practice of using instructions from Merck led to the circulation of knowledge and practices, including research material and microbiological methods.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

The Circulation of Penicillin in SpainModern Times: Screening Antibiotics and the Factory Line

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
ISBN
978-3-319-69717-8
Pages
107 –131
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-69718-5_5
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[This chapter is an account of the 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 inspirations were the factory system of production, and Selman Waksman’s research agenda on microorganisms of the soil. The relationship between industrial production of antibiotics and the research programme intended to identify new candidate drugs is examined, and I suggest there were organisational similarities. Moreover, the research objects and tools originated—both materially and conceptually—from industrial production: a line of artisanship constructed to obtain a product through the combined effort of the production line workers. Following the style developed by Selman Waksman at Rutgers University, the screening programme evaluated samples manually, and microbiological skills were enhanced with every test. The Madrid team’s practice of using instructions from Merck led to the circulation of knowledge and practices, including research material and microbiological methods.]

Published: Dec 20, 2017

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