436:, where he was in charge of the base laboratory, a few weeks after his phage paper was published. Supposedly after that point, Twort was inundated with routine and could no longer pursue his research. To explain why he did not continue his work on bacteriophages, Twort responded, "it was sometime after the end of the war before I was really free again to continue the investigation, but at that time most of the additional details of the phenomenon had been published by other workers under the title of 'the bacteriophage'. So I passed on to other work." This excuse is rather puzzling since, in 1919, bacteriophage research was still in its infancy.
300:, nor even were they strictly separable by sugars. Twort wrote, "It seems, therefore, probable that the separate micro-organisms in the various subgroups are not to be regarded as distinct species, but as varieties or hybrids of one or more species. If this be so, one might expect them to be constantly varying, losing old characters and gaining new ones according to the conditions under which they are grown, and it was with the object of testing this hypothesis that further series of experiments were undertaken." Following prolonged incubation in media that they previously failed to
445:
conditions with singlemindedness and intense interest in his work. Twort and others wanted to use these bacteriolytic agents to cure bacterial diseases in humans and animals. When this proved to be unsuccessful, Twort went back to expanding his original idea that the bacteriolytic agents themselves needed an addition (essential) factor of a more exceptional nature to satisfy their fundamental needs. He searched for a substance that would allow viruses to grow apart from other forms of life (i.e. a
263:) in 1900, Twort took the first paid post available, assistant to Dr. Louis Jenner, Superintendent of the Clinical Laboratory of St Thomas' Hospital. There he trained in pathological techniques. In 1902 he became assistant to the Bacteriologist of the London Hospital, Dr. William Bulloch, later F.R.S., and carried out single-handed the whole diagnostic routine of the hospital. In 1909, Twort became the superintendent of the
359:, a chronic intestinal infection of cattle. Similarly to leprosy, Johne's bacillus could not be cultivated on ordinary media. Incorporation of dead tubercle bacilli in the medium was successful. Johne's bacillus had been cultivated for the first time. Contrary to previous efforts, Twort's work was recognized immediately.
33:
347:. Twort's experiment is important as a demonstration of an organism growing only when supplied with a substance elaborated by another. This is the essential feature of all growth factor investigations and the basis of all studies of bacterial nutrition. However, this work, too, was ignored for several decades.
461:
in May 1929, Twort was never again to publish work of any serious import. On 19 November 1931 London
University's Senate conferred on him the title of Professor of Bacteriology on the following grounds: 1. His distinguished contributions by research to the advancement of his subject. 2. His powers of
397:
Further experiments showed the agent could pass through porcelain filters and it required bacteria for growth. These observations show Twort had discovered most of the essential features of bacteriophages, although Twort seemed to favor the idea that the principle was not a separate form of life, but
393:
slants and obtained large bacterial colonies of several colours. Upon closer examination of the colonies with a magnifying glass, he found minute glassy areas that would not grow when subcultured. He quickly realized these glassy areas were the result of the destruction of the bacterial cells and was
465:
Financial support for his research dwindled, his stipend from the MRC ended in 1936, and his laboratory was destroyed by a bomb in 1944. The
University of London took this opportunity to deprive Twort of his post and research facilities. He was allowed to store the research equipment at his home in
343:, which could be elaborated from the ordinary media only by the tubercle bacillus." Twort therefore incorporated dead tubercle bacilli in the growth medium and succeeded in culturing leprosy. The essential substance supplied by the tubercle bacillus that was missing from the medium turned out to be
367:
Twort and his brother, Dr. C. C. Twort, had for some years been trying to grow viruses in artificial media hoping to find a nonpathogenic virus, which might be the wild type of a pathogenic one, so more likely to grow. In 1914, Twort set out to identify the elusive (now known to be nonexistent)
444:
Following the war, the recently formed
Medical Research Committee (Council) supplemented Twort's salary as a university professor by an annual grant but he never was given an assistant to help with the great number of experiments he had in mind. He struggled on under difficult and depressing
847:
Twort, F. W.; Ingram, G. L. Y. (1912). "A Method for
Isolating and Cultivating the Mycobacterium enteritidis chronicae pseudotuberculosae bovis, Johne, and some Experiments on the Preparation of a Diagnostic Vaccine for Pseudo-tuberculous Enteritis of Bovines".
897:
Further experiments showed the agent could pass through porcelain filters and it required bacteria for growth. He toyed with the idea that the bacteriolytic agent was vaccinia that invaded the bacteria in search of the "essential
466:
Camberley. In 1949, Penguin Books published his chapter on the
Discovery of the Bacteriophage alongside a chapter on the Bacteriophage by Felix d'Herelle in the popular series Science News. Twort died on 30 March 1950.
1049:
Includes material paraphrased from
Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual, Third Edition, Sambrook and Russell, Volume I, p. 2.109. Information Panel: Bacteriophages: Historical Perspective.
789:"The Fermentation of Glucosides by Bacteria of the Typhoid-coli Group and the Acquisition of New Fermenting Powers by Bacillus dysenteriae and other Micro-organisms. Preliminary Communication"
271:
research centre, and remained there for the duration of his career. In 1919 Twort married
Dorothy Nony, daughter of Frederick J. Banister, and together they had three daughters and a son.
339:
bacillus, a species that was culturable. Twort wrote, "It appeared highly probable that these two organisms would require the same chemical substances for building up their
389:. Twort speculated the contaminating bacteria might be the source of the "essential substance" needed by vaccinia to survive. He plated some of the smallpox vaccines on
497:
449:) and when this was unsuccessful, he tried to prove that bacteria evolved from viruses. His prime idea was to devise conditions for the cultivation of viruses from
1118:
316:. Although ignored at the time - a trend that seemed to plague his career - this work was quite prescient, and anticipated by decades the subsequent work on
1113:
331:
was still a major concern during the early part of the 20th century. However, work on leprosy was frustrated by the inability to culture the leprosy
1123:
1002:
1108:
428:
In the middle of his work, war broke out and a grant from the Local
Government Board came to an end. Further, he became interested in the
264:
1027:
In Focus, out of Step, A biography of
Frederick William Twort FRS 1977–1950 by Antony Twort, 1993, Alan Sutton publisher, page 184
992:
In Focus, out of Step, A biography of
Frederick William Twort FRS 1977–1950 by Antony Twort, 1993, Alan Sutton publisher, page 156
219:, was superintendent of the Brown Institute for Animals (a pathology research centre), and was a professor of bacteriology at the
1103:
1098:
453:
precursors or hypothetical pre-virus forms which might exist in nature. These experiments, while failures, presaged the famous
251:
on 22 October 1877. The three eldest sons went to Tomlinson's Modern School in Woking. From 1894 Frederick studied medicine at
1093:
777:
In Focus, Out of Step, A biography of Frederick William Twort FRS, 1877–1950 by Antony Twort, 1993, Alan Sutton Publisher
292:. Twort's first important paper found some shortcomings to this method. He found that the major subgroups identified by
301:
260:
189:
147:
134:
256:
429:
252:
212:
97:
304:, several species acquired fermentation powers which originally they did not enjoy. We now know that these
820:
Twort, F. W. (1910). "A Method for Isolating and Growing the Lepra bacillus of Man. (Preliminary Note.)".
129:
413:
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682:
220:
174:
1006:
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able to pick from some of these areas and transmit this from one staphylococci colony to another.
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524:
516:
383:
had to be made in the skin of calves and was almost always contaminated with the bacterial genus
335:
in the laboratory. Twort suspected that the leprosy bacillus had a 'close relationship' with the
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224:
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563:
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506:
243:
The eldest of the eleven children of Dr. William Henry Twort, Frederick Twort was born in
738:
686:
1053:
Twort, F. (1925). "The Transmissible Bacterial Lysin and Its Action on Dead Bacteria".
966:
Twort, F. (1930). "Filter-Passing Transmissible Bacteriolytic Agents (Bacteriophage)".
646:
619:
385:
196:
1066:
979:
952:
925:
892:
604:
568:
543:
416:
discovered phages independently, and Twort's work may have been lost to time, but for
1077:
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107:
764:
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164:
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288:, bacteria were often differentiated testing their ability to grow on different
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404:
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232:
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87:
64:
520:
747:
722:
695:
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227:, a chronic intestinal infection of cattle, and also discovered that
216:
60:
1036:
Science News 14, Edited by J.L.Crammer, Penguin Books, December 1949
909:
402:
which is secreted by the bacteria. Twort published these results in
296:
fermentation were not capable of clear-cut subdivision by tests on
457:
experiments of the 1950s. Although he was elected a Fellow of the
293:
204:
32:
591:
Twort, F. W. (1925). "The Discovery of the "bacteriophage."".
877:"An Investigation on the Nature of Ultra-Microscopic Viruses"
255:, London. After qualifying in medicine (Membership of the
320:
and mutation by bacterial chemists and microbiologists.
939:
Twort, F. W. (1926). "The Twort-D'herelle Phenomenon".
850:
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
822:
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
793:
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
170:
160:
143:
121:
113:
103:
93:
83:
71:
42:
23:
308:individuals able to ferment novel sugars arose in
420:and Andre Gratia's rediscovery of Twort's paper.
412:agent. Unfortunately, his discovery was ignored;
498:Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society
8:
462:exposition. 3. His eminence in his subject.
1005:. London: The Royal Society. Archived from
199:and was the original discoverer in 1915 of
1003:"Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660–2007"
31:
20:
804:
746:
694:
645:
635:
567:
510:
192:(22 October 1877 – 20 March 1950) was an
475:
368:"essential substance" that would allow
1119:British Army personnel of World War I
483:
481:
479:
408:in 1915 and called the contagion the
7:
493:"Frederick William Twort. 1877–1950"
239:Early life and scientific training
14:
1114:Royal Army Medical Corps officers
265:Brown Animal Sanatory Institution
620:"Phage Therapy: Concept to Cure"
362:
910:"The Ultra-Microscopic Viruses"
544:"Who discovered bacteriophage?"
1124:Military personnel from Surrey
560:10.1128/MMBR.40.4.793-802.1976
1:
1067:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)90041-2
980:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)86452-1
953:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)16350-6
926:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)32091-3
893:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)20383-3
605:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)22250-8
1109:Fellows of the Royal Society
723:"The career of F. W. Twort"
312:, and came to dominate the
261:Royal College of Physicians
148:Fellow of the Royal Society
1140:
671:"Prof. F. W. Twort, F.R.S"
363:Twort-d'Herelle phenomenon
211:). He studied medicine at
624:Frontiers in Microbiology
542:Duckworth, D. H. (1976).
257:Royal College of Surgeons
180:
153:
30:
637:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00238
430:Royal Army Medical Corps
284:Early in the history of
1104:English bacteriologists
1099:British microbiologists
548:Bacteriological Reviews
350:
187:Frederick William Twort
862:10.1098/rspb.1912.0011
834:10.1098/rspb.1910.0074
806:10.1098/rspb.1907.0025
512:10.1098/rsbm.1951.0016
432:and actually left for
355:Twort also researched
16:English bacteriologist
1094:People from Camberley
908:Twort, F. W. (1921).
875:Twort, F. W. (1915).
787:Twort, F. W. (1907).
231:is needed by growing
223:. He researched into
117:Dorothy Nony Banister
618:Keen, E. C. (2012).
259:, Licentiate of the
253:St Thomas's Hospital
221:University of London
213:St Thomas's Hospital
175:University of London
98:St Thomas's Hospital
974:(5594): 1064–1067.
887:(4814): 1241–1243.
739:1990Natur.343..504P
687:1950Natur.165..874.
130:William Henry Twort
1061:(5326): 642–644.
947:(5347): 416–420.
920:(5108): 204–223.
184:
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155:Scientific career
135:Elizabeth Webster
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1009:on 24 March 2010
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828:(562): 156–158.
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799:(532): 329–336.
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505:(20): 504–526.
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477:
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442:
426:
414:Félix d'Herelle
376:. At the time,
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357:Johne's disease
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351:Johne's disease
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282:
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225:Johne's disease
139:
94:Alma mater
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53:22 October 1877
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37:Frederick Twort
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25:Frederick Twort
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554:(4): 793–802.
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386:Staphylococcus
372:virus to grow
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197:bacteriologist
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104:Known for
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79:(aged 72)
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733:(6258): 504.
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681:(4205): 874.
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669:Anon (1950).
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447:host organism
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410:bacteriolytic
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75:20 March 1950
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1044:Bibliography
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1011:. Retrieved
1007:the original
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719:Pirie, N. W.
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489:Fildes, Paul
464:
443:
440:Postwar work
427:
418:Jules Bordet
403:
396:
384:
373:
366:
354:
327:
286:microbiology
283:
242:
207:that infect
186:
185:
171:Institutions
165:Bacteriology
154:
77:(1950-03-20)
18:
1089:1950 deaths
1084:1877 births
898:substance".
455:Miller-Urey
424:World War I
84:Nationality
1078:Categories
1055:The Lancet
968:The Lancet
941:The Lancet
914:The Lancet
881:The Lancet
593:The Lancet
470:References
405:The Lancet
341:protoplasm
318:adaptation
314:population
298:glucosides
275:Major work
235:bacteria.
49:1877-10-22
529:161652707
345:vitamin K
269:pathology
245:Camberley
229:vitamin K
57:Camberley
721:(1990).
705:15423501
656:22833738
491:(1951).
434:Salonika
381:vaccines
378:smallpox
374:in vitro
370:vaccinia
337:tubercle
333:bacillus
280:Mutation
209:bacteria
1013:18 July
765:4354108
757:2405283
735:Bibcode
683:Bibcode
647:3400130
630:: 238.
451:abiotic
329:Leprosy
310:culture
302:ferment
233:leprosy
205:viruses
194:English
122:Parents
88:English
65:England
763:
755:
727:Nature
703:
675:Nature
654:
644:
578:795414
576:
569:413985
566:
527:
521:769034
519:
400:enzyme
306:mutant
249:Surrey
217:London
161:Fields
144:Awards
114:Spouse
61:Surrey
761:S2CID
525:S2CID
517:JSTOR
294:sugar
290:media
1015:2010
753:PMID
701:PMID
652:PMID
574:PMID
267:, a
72:Died
43:Born
1063:doi
1059:206
976:doi
972:216
949:doi
945:207
922:doi
918:198
889:doi
885:186
858:doi
830:doi
801:doi
743:doi
731:343
691:doi
679:165
642:PMC
632:doi
601:doi
597:205
564:PMC
556:doi
507:doi
398:an
190:FRS
128:Dr
1080::
1057:.
970:.
943:.
916:.
912:.
883:.
879:.
854:84
852:.
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552:40
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478:^
247:,
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203:(
51:)
47:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
