Research History (Page 1 of 3)
Through the years, National Jewish Health* has aspired to be much
more than a facility simply for the physical treatment of disease.
Over the years, our clinical and translational researchers have made many groundbreaking discoveries.
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In the 1940s and 50s, scientists pioneered the development and use of combined chemotherapy treatment for tuberculosis.
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In 1960, scientists developed the first clinically useful method of diagnosing asthma.
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Our scientists also identified how HIV infects and kills T cells that would normally protect the body from disease invasion.
Early Research Efforts
In 1919, with the establishment of a research department aimed at
discovering a cure for tuberculosis (TB), the institution's career as a
significant research facility began. National Jewish was the first
hospital to establish a research department separate from clinical
laboratories and with a full-time staff and director, Harry J. Corper,
MD.
Dr. Corper’s laboratory contributions included establishing a new
method of culturing the TB germ on a simple Irish potato instead of
using expensive guinea pigs. This became a standard procedure in TB
labs everywhere. Using laboratory studies, Dr. Corper demonstrated that
specific immunity is a potent factor in resistance to TB and he
discovered, for the first time, that the tubercle bacillus was an
incredibly hardy germ – it can remain alive outside the body as long as
30 years, and resists hot and cold extremes that no mammal could
survive.
When Gardner Middlebrook, MD succeeded Dr. Corper as head of
research in 1951, the commonplace use of drugs began to give a new
slant to basic research. (Interestingly, Dr. Middlebrook had developed
TB while in medical school, prompting him to devote his career to
researching the disease.) Scientists added drug research to their
approaches to understanding the characteristics of the tubercle
bacillus and other mycobacteria and to investigating how immunity works
on TB.
Dr. Middlebrook guided his staff into many studies of isoniazid
(INH), a first-line antituberculous medication. He soon demonstrated
that each person “inactivates” (metabolizes and eliminates) INH
differently. So in order for the drug to be effective against TB,
dosages must be determined individually for each patient. If the wrong
dosage was used, the patient would quickly become drug-resistant. This
led Dr. Middlebrook to develop a method of determining how much of the
drug was enough.
NEXT: Expanding Basic Research
Page 1, 2, 3
*Over the years, the National Jewish Health name has evolved
to better communicate our mission. However, all names have included a
common component –the words National Jewish. Therefore, the name
National Jewish is used in all references to our institution throughout
this history overview.
