Elizabeth Lee Hazen and Rachel Fuller Brown: A remarkable collaboration in the discovery and purification of Nystatin

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Mary Virginia Orna, mvorna@cnr.edu, Publications Coordinator Office, Journal of Chemical Education, 16 Hemlock Place, New Rochelle, NY 10805
In 1994, Elizabeth Lee Hazen and Rachel Fuller Brown were inducted into the National Inventors' Hall of Fame for their invention “Nystatin (Antifungal / Antibiotic) and Method of Producing It” (U.S. Patent Number 2,797, 183; Ref. [1]). They developed the world's first useful antifungal antibiotic through a long-distance scientific collaboration. Working as researchers for the New York State Department of Health, Hazen, a mycologist and bacteriologist in New York City, and Brown, an organic chemist in Albany, shared tests and samples through the U.S. mail. To Hazen's single-minded pursuit of an antifungal antibiotic, Brown added the skills needed to identify, characterize, and purify the various substances produced by culturing bacteria found in the hundreds of soil samples they examined. This paper will tell their remarkable story.