Biotechnology Method Has Source in the Ganges River

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Biotechnology Method Has Source in the Ganges River

http://www.gangagen.com/corporateframe.htm

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, December 02, 2003: GangaGen, a company in the

biotechnology industry, is committed to the discovery and development of

biologically specific bacteriophage (bacteria eaters) for the diagnosis,

prevention and treatment of bacterial infection in medical, veterinary, and

agricultural applications, says this company website. The biotechnology

industry is only just beginning to boom and companies like GangaGen aim to

provide infectious disease solutions to the world through their research and

development of bacteriophages. Phages are highly specific, naturally

occurring agents that invade bacteria and destroy them. Phages can be

developed to eradicate any bacterial infection since they specifically

target only bacteria. They cannot be used to treat viral infections.

 

The first observation of phage-activity was made in India in 1896 by Ernest

Hanbury Hankin. He noticed a marked anti-bacterial action in the waters of

Indian rivers Ganga (Ganges) and Yamuna against Vibrio Cholorae. The

activity destroyed cholera bacteria in cultures. He demonstrated that it

could pass through fine porcelain filters and was destroyed by boiling. He

suggested that this activity might be responsible for restricting the

cholera outbreak among the people that consumed the river water. He,

however, did not probe the phenomenon any further. Twenty years later

Frederick Twort in England, and Felix d'Herell from Canada, working at the

Pasteur Institute in Paris, reported isolating similar filterable entities

capable of destroying bacterial cultures. It was d'Herelle who named these

ultra microbes, "bacteriophages."

 

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