06/07/2025
Funding for biotech is still remarkably low today.. Only 2 VC’s invest in antimicrobial research. What will investment in rockets 🚀 change if we can’t even get together to fund life saving medicines. Might be interesting to know that drug resistant fungal infections develop much quicker in space.
In 1948, two women working in different cities quietly changed the future of medicine—one envelope at a time.
Rachel Fuller Brown, a chemist in Albany, and Elizabeth Lee Hazen, a microbiologist in New York City, weren’t backed by major institutions. They didn’t have famous mentors or corporate labs. But they had persistence, trust, and a U.S. postal system willing to carry vials of dirt across the state.
Elizabeth would collect soil samples, isolating microbes that most people wouldn’t think twice about. She’d mail them to Rachel, who would analyze each one for signs of antifungal activity. Over and over again, they repeated the process—hundreds of times.
At the time, fungal infections were deadly, especially for patients with weakened immune systems. Antibiotics like penicillin were useless against them. There was no safe antifungal treatment.
Until one day, a sample from Virginia changed everything.
The compound they discovered was called Nystatin—short for New York State antifungal. It became the first antifungal drug safe for humans. It treated everything from life-threatening infections to common ailments like thrush and athlete’s foot. But its impact didn’t end there.
Nystatin was found to prevent mold on books, paintings, ancient manuscripts, and even trees. A treatment born in the lab became a tool of preservation, saving art, history, and ecosystems from decay.
Rachel and Elizabeth could’ve become incredibly wealthy. Instead, they donated all their royalties—millions of dollars—to fund science. The Brown-Hazen Fund still supports emerging scientists today, especially those who, like them, start with little more than a good idea and relentless dedication.
Two women. One soil sample. A legacy that touches medicine, art, and every life saved since.
~Unusual Tales
