Albert Israel Schatz (2 February 1920 – 17 January 2005) was an American microbiologist and academic who discovered streptomycin, the first antibiotic known to be effective for the treatment of tuberculosis. He graduated from Rutgers University in 1942 with a bachelor's degree in soil microbiology, and received his doctorate from Rutgers in 1945. His PhD research led directly to the discovery of streptomycin.
Born to a family of farmers, Schatz was inspired to study soil science for its potential applicability to take up his family occupation. Topping his class at Rutgers in 1942, he immediately worked under Selman Waksman, then head of the Department of Soil Microbiology, but was drafted to the US Army to serve in the World War II. After a back injury led to his discharge from the army, he rejoined Waksman in 1943 as a PhD student. Working in isolation from others due to his use of the dreaded tuberculosis bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), he discovered a new antibiotic which he named "streptomycin" that was proven safe and effective against the tuberculosis bacterium and other bacteria. He also contributed to the discovery another antibiotic albomycin in 1947.
The discovery of streptomycin led to controversies over its royalties from commercial production, and the Nobel Prize. Unbeknownst to Schatz, Waksman had claimed financial benefits only for himself and the Rutgers Research and Endowment Foundation. A lawsuit granted Schatz 3% of the royalties and legal recognition as the co-discover. Then, the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded solely to Waksman explicitly "for his discovery of streptomycin," As an act of goodwill, Schatz was honored with the Rutgers University Medal in 1994.
Early life and education
Schatz was born in Norwich, Connecticut, US, and attended schools at Passaic, New Jersey. His parents, Russian Jewish émigré father Julius Schatz and English mother Rae Schatz were farmers. He entered the College of Agriculture at Rutgers State University of New Jersey in 1932. He completed the Bachelor of Science with honours in soil science in 1942, topping his class. The day he received his result in May, he joined Selman Waksman who headed the Department of Soil Microbiology at Rutgers, as a postgraduate assistant. Waksman had been directing a research program searching for new antibiotic compounds produced by microorganisms in ordinary soil since 1937, and his teams were to discover more than 10 such chemicals between 1940 and 1952. A fellow student, Doris Ralston, described Schatz as "A poverty-stricken, brilliant student who worked with a burning intensity." He was discharged on 15 June 1943 due to back injury.
Career
After leaving Rutgers in 1946, Schatz worked at Brooklyn College, and the National Agricultural College in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Much of Schatz's later work was on dentistry starting from 1953. While working as the Chief of the Division of Microbiology at the Philadelphia General Hospital, Schatz and his uncle Joseph J. Martin at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Medicine developed a theory on the cause of tooth decay. The theory which they named "proteolysis-chelation theory" rooted in Schatz's original research in 1955.
Schatz became the Most Distinguished Professor of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Chile from 1962 to 1965, then professor of education at Washington University in St. Louis from 1965 to 1969, and professor of science education at Temple University from 1969 to 1980. At Chile, he continued to study the effects of fluoridation of drinking water. At that time, William Hugh Feldman at the Mayo Clinic had suggested Waksman to look for antibiotics that would fight tuberculosis. But Waksman had no intention as he was afraid to handle a bacterium as deadly as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative pathogen of tuberculosis. When Schatz learned of this, he insisted that he take up a research on a tuberculosis drug, to which Waksman agreed. Feldman gave him H-37, the most virulent tuberculosis bacterial strain in humans that was available. The bacteria from chicken used in the experiment was provided by another researcher Doris Jones, and Elizabeth Bugie performed the antibacterial tests. Schatz, Bugie and Waksman reported the discovery in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine which published it on 1 January 1944. The new compound was effective against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as the human strain of tuberculosis bacterium, Their conclusion states:<blockquote>Streptomycin, like streptothricin, possesses strong bactericidal properties, and preliminary experiments tended to indicate that the two substances are also comparable in their low toxicity to animals and in their in vivo activity. The various chemical and biological properties of streptomycin tend to point to this compound as one closely related to streptothricin; the fact that it differs from the latter in the nature of its antibacterial activity may indicate a closely related but not the same type of molecule. He and Waksman reported the effectiveness of streptomycin against different strains of tuberculosis bacterium and other related pathogens on 1 November 1944, and published a series of papers on the production of streptomycin and related antibiotics the next year. In 1946, they identified that only specific species of actinomycetes produce streptomycin.
Feldman and his team conducted the first clinical trial and toxicity tests at the Mayo Clinic in late 1944 and reported it in 1945. The first individual treated was a 21-year-old girl who had advanced pulmonary tuberculosis and was given streptomycin on 20 November 1944. By 1946, experiments conducted under the projects of Merck in the UK and USA had proven streptomycin's effectiveness against TB, bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid fever, and other penicillin-resistant diseases. All the original samples in clinical trials were prepared by Schatz alone.
Patent, lawsuit and settlement (1946-1950)
Waksman knew that patenting streptomycin could be difficult because US patent law prohibited natural products and Schatz method had no particular novelty. With the help of the Merck lawyers who had aided him patenting actinomycin and streptothricin, he argued that the new compound was chemically distinct from the natural compound in the bacteria. This convinced the patenting authority.
In the patent agreement on 1 May 1946, both Schatz and Waksman agreed to receive a token $1.00 as recognition for being the inventors of the streptomycin production method, so that the beneficiary would be Rutgers and not individuals.
Schatz began to feel that Waksman was playing down his (Schatz's) role in the discovery and taking all the credit. In 1949, it became publicised that Waksman, contrary to his public pronouncements, had a private agreement with the foundation giving him 20% of the royalties – which by then had amounted to $350,000 ($ adjusted for inflation) – and the Rutgers foundation 80%. In March 1950, Schatz, filed a lawsuit against Waksman and the foundation for a share of the royalties and recognition of his role in the discovery of streptomycin. Waksman got 10% and 7% was evenly distributed to all workers in Waksman's lab. With its 80% share, the Rutgers established the Waksman Institute of Microbiology. The Nobel committee statement given by presenter Arvid Wallgren at the award ceremony in Stockholm on 12 December 1952 was "Selman Waksman, the Caroline Medical Institute has awarded you this year's Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for your ingenious, systematic and successful studies of the soil microbes that led to the discovery of streptomycin" The new antibiotic was isolated from the same bacteria that produced streptomycin. It was not as powerful as streptomycin or streptothricin, but was less toxic and effective against most Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. When other related compounds were discovered from other bacteria, grisein was considered as member of a more specific compound, albomycin. These compounds were later commonly referred to as "Trojan horse" antibiotics for their ability to act as their molecular targets inside the cells.
Dental research and controversy (1954-1992)
Since 1945, the US has advocated water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay. Supported by his uncle Martin, Schatz investigated the cause of tooth decay from the mid-1950s. When he began he was surprised to learn that the cause of tooth decay was tacitly assumed to be acidity in the mouth, without any experimental evidence. he further claimed that in Chile, water fluoridation not only failed to prevent tooth decay, but instead caused increased cancer that led to increased death among people with malnutrition. He also criticized a scientific paper published in 1966 that presented the advantages of water fluoridation in the Curico province of Chile, arguing that the data was incomplete. In 1978, the US Department of Health Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta issued a public statement that Schatz's data was improperly analyzed and did not present the true relationship between water fluoridation and cancer and mortality with the conclusion: "Water fluoridation for the purpose of dental caries prophylaxis poses no hazard relevant to cancer causation." He responded by claiming that the publication was in a legitimate journal,
Personal life
Schatz's initial interest in soil microbiology stemmed from his intention to become a farmer following his parents. Seeing workers being assaulted by the authorities during the Depression prompted him to lifelong socialism and humanitarianism. He married Vivian Rosenfeld, a student at New Jersey College for Women, in March 1945 and they had two daughters, Linda and Diane.