Oswald Avery: Pioneer of Bacterial Vaccines and the First to Discover the Function of DNA

Abstract

Dr. Oswald Theodore Avery (1877-1955), M.D., played an immense role in the biological and medical field because of his groundbreaking research. All his life, he worked on Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterium that causes pneumonia. He discovered the principle of polysaccharide conjugate vaccines, which now save the lives of millions of children and the elderly. He found that bacteria can transfer plasmids; most importantly, he identified that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the carrier of genetic information instead of the (at that time widely accepted) protein theory. Though he was never awarded the Nobel Prize, his work was the basis for countless achievements building on his foundation, ranging from effective vaccines to gene transfer technologies.